morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-03-31
From: Mollie's Ridge

To: Thunderhead Mountain
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: scattered clouds

It was another beautiful day. We left Mollie¢s Ridge Shelter at 7:30 AM. We sopped at Russell Field Shelter for breakfast, which took about an hour. Some section hikers gave us a potato and some foil to bake it in.I pushed it some and made it to Spense Field Shelter in good time. Something approaching what used to be my normal mile and a half an hour. We came upon Lode Stone and Creepy lying in the sun in the grass near the shelter. We had just taken a break down the trail a ways so we didn¢t stop.I felt good on the climb up to rocky Top. Friar Tuck gave me his iPod to listen to, so I listened to some bluegrass music on the way up. We stayed up there awhile. I took a lunch and foot care break. The views were fantastic. We were passed by several people, Croft, High Tower, Double Dribble and others.When we left the peak, we continued to climb up to Thunderhead Mountain. There were views on the way up but none at the top so we continued on. It was 4 PM and we had four miles to go so I though we were home free.Wrong! What followed was the longest four miles I think I have ever hiked. There was a steep uphill climb that I remembered from 3 years ago, except this time it was covered in snow. Some of it was treacherous only a tiny strip of clear ground with ice on the right edge of it and a drop off the mountain on the left. There were also sections of mixed or standing water that was 2 ¢ 4 inches deep. And blow downs.There was an interminable climb to Brier Knob and then up and down and up and down the last two mile to the shelter. I remembered this section as the one where I first overtaxed my knees in 2007. I did it by trying to hurry down the downhills to make it to the shelter before dark. Well, this time I didn¢t quite make it before dark. I had to stop and put the headlamp on just before I got to the shelter at about 8:30 PM. Friar Tuck was about 5 minutes behind me.The shelter was full and several tents were pitched. We set up camp in the field right next to the Lodestone. Friar Tuck cooked some supper but I ate some cold food and went straight to bed.
Date: 2010-04-01
From: Thunderhead Mountain

To: Double Spring's Gap
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: clear sky

We took it easy today. I had to. I didn¢t have any juice ¢ possibly because it was pretty hot out. The weather was beautiful and it was a nice uneventful hike. We stopped at Siler¢s Bald Shelter and chatted with Sherlock. He was traveling with 2 other guys ¢ one of whom was having serious blister problems and was hiking in one boot and one croc. They are heading to Gatlinburg tomorrow where one of them has a family member waiting with a car.We saw Johnny Walker briefly. I have been leap frogging him since Neel¢s Gap. We got to Double Springs Gap at about 6:00 PM. Friar Tuck set up the tent while I boiled the potato. I chopped it up and boiled it, then added some butter buds, Croft gave me, a cheese packet from some mac and cheese Friar Tuck picked up from a hiker box and some pepperoni. It was almost real food yum!
Date: 2010-04-02
From: Thunderhead Mountain

To: Mount Collins
Miles today: 7.3

We got a fairly early start this morning. Friar left a little before me and I caught up. We had some great views on the trail leading up to Clingman¢s Dome. We stopped for a break at an open spot and looked at the trail ahead through Friar¢s eye piece. We could see clearly that it was heading up (no surprise) and that we would be heading into snow again.Friar took a second break and I got to Clingman¢s about 20 minutes ahead of him. I met Danger Mouse and another hiker (her companion ¢ forgot his name) up there.It was windy, but clear and the views were great. I had fun looking at the signs and identifying the Fire tower we had been looking at the last couple of days turned out not to be the one on Shuckstack Mountain.Friar Tuck and I headed down from the dome at about 1:00 PM. Then¢¦it took us 4 12 hours to hike the 3.4 miles to the Mt. Collins Shelter turn off. The trail was mostly snow covered. The snow on the trail was 2-3 feet deep, with drifts along the sides up to five feet. The trail looked like it was packed down where people had walked on it but in many places it was melting from underneath and what was on top was a one to two inch icy crust. Even by stepping where someone else had just stepped, there was no guarantee that the crust would break and put your leg in a two to three foot deep hole.I post holed right at the top, in front of a log, making the step up to the log too high to reach. Friar Tuck came around to help me and got stuck right next to me. I had him stick out his arm so I could pull myself up and when I was out I turned around and helped him out.It was 4 12 hours of slipping, sliding, falling and twisting feet and legs in ways they were never meant to move, all the while watching every step.At one point, where there wasn¢t a hole in site, I made one with my left leg. I went in to above my knee cap. When I tried to lift my let out, my heel stuck and my foot wouldn¢t come up. I moved my leg back and forth to widen the hole and apparently all the snow except in the one spot was pretty much solid ice ¢ so no give at all. Friar Tuck came around to pull me out, but with the left foot stuck and such a high step for the right foot, pulling on my arms didn¢t work. Before I knew what was happening he put his arms around my waist in a bear hug and yanked me out of the hole. The force of the release knocked him backwards and his pack took him over. I landed on top of him. It was a backpack sandwich with thru-hiker filling. I got up and Friar Tuck had to take his pack off to get to his feet.It was a long afternoon, there were some muddy patches of trail up Mount Collins, but mostly it was more snow. We got to the shelter about dusk. We got some snow melt water from the trail. It was pretty dirty. Croft gave us some she had purified to cook with and she said se would use the water we had gotten in the morning. That was very nice of her and it helped me out a lot.
Date: 2010-04-03
From: Mount Collins

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: overcast clouds

It was windy all night at the Mt. Collin¢s Shelter. I got up to a beautiful red sunrise. After talking to a couple of kids from Louisiana who had come up from Newfound Gap yesterday, Friar Tuck and I decided to get onto the Clingman¢s Dome road as soon as possible and hike it down to the gap. The two kids said the trail was snow covered all the way to the bottom and they had only hiked it a short while before switching to the road.About a third of a mile north of the shelter turnoff we found a trail on the right that went to the road. It only took us 2 hours to hike the 4 pus miles to Newfound Gap. On the way we saw a couple work crews fixing the 50-year old stone walls that line parts of the road. It was cloudy and a little cool because of the wind.We got to the gap about 10:30 AM. Neither of our phones worked so we couldn¢t call for a shuttle. I thought Friar Tuck was on top of that piece, so I was bummed out to fnd out that we didn¢t have a ride. Friar Tuck went over to talk to a park ranger who was hassling a guy in a pickup who only had one license plate. (The guy was from a state that only requires one.) Turns out he and his wife were at the gap doing trail magic. Friar came back over to the wall to tell me he had found us a ride.Trekker and Rising Fawn gave us food (Easter Eggs, oranges and chocolate) and took us into town. We went to the post office first. It was 11:15 and they had closed at 11:00. Friar Tuck knocked on the door and the Postal Service employee was nice enough to get his box for him.The grocery store was across the street from the post office and on the way up we had passed the Sleepy Bear Motel and a Laundromat, so we had our trail angles take us back there. We went and had steaks for lunch at the Alamo Restaurant, walked a short distance and did laundry and then went shopping at Food City and took the trolley back. In the evening I got all my food and snacks organized. Friar Tuck made strawberries and whipped cream for dessert/supper.It was a very efficient, non-stressful zero in Gatlinburg.
Date: 2010-04-05
From: Leconte Lodge

To: Ice Water Spring Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We had a great night at the lodge. After a cup of coffee at dinner and all the adrenaline released on our evening climb it was hard to get to sleep. Friar Tuck and I were in hysterics writing our journal entries it. It must have been close to 11:00 before I got to sleep.Breakfast was at 8:00 AM. I sat next to Cindy who we met last night at dinner with her husband Dave. They came up Alum Cave Trail which we hiked down today. It was her first hike and something she said really impressed me. She said she wanted to find out if she liked hiking and if she didn¢t, it wouldn¢t be because she couldn¢t do it. Her husband has hiked a lot of the Appalachian Trail.I tried to come up with a trail name for her and after Friar Tuck and I left I started calling her Sunshine and it stuck. So Cindy if you¢re reading this we named you Sunshine for your sunny personality. It¢s not all that original, but it fits. It¢s up to you if you keep it or not.The Alum Cave Trail was mostly down hill. There were lots of sections with cables in the rocks. There was a section where we crossed a river 4 times on log bridges (one wide log) with sketchy railings. They were pretty rickety and looked like they would give way if you put much weight on them there was also a set of rock stairs that descended through a natural tunnel in the rock. It was a mile hike along the river down to the parking lot. As we got there I saw a couple young guys and when they went to their car it was a large SUV. I told them we were thru hikers who had gotten off the trail and asked if they could help us out with a ride up to the road to Newfound Gap. He said to hang on while he checked because they had a baby asleep in the car. A couple of minutes later he motioned us over. They were scoping out a place to hike and wanted to let the baby finish her nap before they put her in the baby back pack to hike. So they made a special trip to take us up there. Very nice. There was the young couple with the baby and the second man. The couple was from England and the single guy was from Sacramento. He knew where Greenfield, MA was because he had dated a woman from Gill. Small world. They were all originally from India and had gotten together for a college reunion. We started back up the trail from Newfound Gap at almost 3:15 PM. Before we left we got silly and took our pictures again at the sign. Friar Tuck and I were both tired and the trail was still pretty snowy and icy. It took us about an hour longer than it did yesterday when we were fresh. When we were almost to the shelter we met the nice young couple we saw at the LaConte Shelter last night. The man said they had come down Alum Cave Trail behind us and that if he¢d seen us he was going to offer us a ride. We also ran into Scott, the trial runner who was going to try to find my yak traks. He said he looked all over and couldn¢t find them. I¢m just glad someone found them and packed them out. We got to Ice Water Spring Shelter a little after six, pitched the tent, got water, ate and hit the hay. It¢s 8:30 now and I¢m going sleep.
Date: 2010-04-06
From: Ice Water Spring Shelter

To: Tri Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I left Ice Water Springs Shelter this morning at about 7:20. It was another beautiful, sunny day. It was a long hike with a lot of climbing and descending. Another day of great views as we were up high (over 6,000 feet at times) all day. Near the end of the day I was tiring and Fire Tuck gave me his iPod set to his workout music which helped a lot.We got to Tri Corner Knob Shelter at about 7:30. Scott, the ridge runner said it was full and that we should go up the trail 500 feet to a flat spot by the horse hitch. Friar Tuck set up the tent while I blew up my air mattress. I organized my stuff for the night. I put some of it in the tent and the rest in my pack which I placed under the vestibule. I took my food bag and water containers and went down to join Friar Tuck at the shelter to make supper. While we were eating we heard someone down at the food bag cable start yelling ¢Get out of her.¢ It was Digger Dude. He was hanging up food bags when he was approached by a bear. Scott radioed in a report and I heard the guy on the other end ask if the bear had taken anyone¢s gear.After supper Friar Tuck and I headed back up to the tent in the dark and when we got there Friar Tuck said, ¢My pack is gone.¢ He had left it right outside the tent. We went back down to the shelter to tell the people down there and to hang my pack.When we got back I put my full, two-liter platypus and my water bottle about ten feet away from the tent in case they smelled like food. It was windy so it was hard to hear if anything was outside but shortly after we went to bed I heard a ¢huff!¢ and I though something was at my platypus. I told Friar I was going to yell. Then I did. About 15 minutes later I heard it again. Friar said, ¢Are you making noise Abbey?¢ I said ¢No, its my platypus, He¢s right out there.¢ So we both started yelling. I could hear the fear in my voice when I yelled. We brought our boots inside the tent, just is case and I brought in one of my hiking poles. I didn¢t think the bear would bother us in the tent since he was reacting to being yelled at. I think this bear had learned that sometimes bags contain food, so he tried every one he saw. I figured there was nothing to be done but to wait out the night in the tent. I slept fitfully ¢ an hour or two at a time.
Date: 2010-04-07
From: Tri Corner Knob Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

At daybreak we got up to look for Friar Tuck¢s pack. I searched the perimeter of the camp site, ruling out areas where the bear would have had to have leave tracks in the snow. Scat Tracker and I went down the hill behind the site on the side opposite the trail. She found something made of red nylon that had been torn up a long time ago and I found some fresh bear foot prints in the snow, but we found no back pack. Doodlebug and Diggeridude searched down by the shelter. I think Scott looked for quite a while too.Sweet Cheeks (Jen) took the Friar¢s ten to the next shelter for him. A section hiker gave him some rope and he made a handle around his food bag, onto which he had stuffed his sleeping bag. Friar still had his tent, sleeping bag, boots, cooking gear, food, head lamp, poles, fleece jacket and the clothes he was wearing. He lost his pack, ID (license, passport and Social Security card), camera, rain gear, phone, iPod, first aid kit, down jacket and other clothes. It was an upsetting shock, but he took it in stride. We had an easy hike to Cosby Knob Shelter. We stopped on the way to make phone calls when I got a cell signal.Friar Tuck called his dad to have him send money and his birth certificate. I called Steve to have him send some stuff and I arranged a shuttle to Hot springs for tomorrow night when we come out of the Smokies.We got a spot in the shelter ¢ we got there about 4:00 PM. It was a really fun group to hang out with. Doodlebug, Digg, Mary Beth, Kappy, Mexico and tow through hikers ¢ the guy with Mexico and the English guy, can¢t remember the names and two really nice section hikers.
Date: 2010-04-08
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

The weather finally turned. After a nice sunrise it started to get cloudy. I left the shelter at about 7:15 AM. Friar Tuck was about 10 minutes ahead of me. The climb up from Cosby Knot was longer than I expected and I stopped for about 20 minutes to call Ross to schedule a phone session tomorrow and Steve to have him send a couple more things. I just caught Steve as he was heading out the door to the post office. As I went up the ridge the wind picked up. I got up over the top just as it started to rain. Friar Tuck was waiting for me there. I took a picture of him in his trash bag rain suit, carrying his two bundles. I hope it turns out. He looked very different from the guy on his trail cards.It rained most of the rest of the day. It rained hard at times. The umbrella worked great. I was so happy to have it. We stopped at the Davenport Shelter for a snack break and made good time the whole day.Our pick up was at 6:30 PM at the I-40 overpass. We got there about 3:00 PM so we decided to go over to Standing Bear Hostel and get out of the rain. We missed the sign on the rock. I flagged down an SUV to ask where it was and the woman told us to hop in and she would take us there.When we got there I had no cell signal and another hiker offered me the use of his phone card so I could call Daniel our shuttle from Bluff Mountain Outfitters to let him know to pick us up at the hostel. I didn¢t get that hiker¢s name but sure appreciated his thoughtfulness. We hung out by the wood stove until Daniel arrived. We ran into Lodestone there. All the hikers who were at the shelter last night were there, except the two section hikers who were heading south. Mexico and the guy he is hiking with stopped in for supper and then moved on.We went into Hot springs. On the way, Daniel called the Duckett House for us and we got a room there.
Date: 2010-04-09
From: Hot Springs

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

The Duckett House was great. Most comfortable bed yet. I had a shower, did laundry, got on the internet, and enjoyed a good breakfast. They didn¢t have any more room tonight except in the bunk house so we moved over there.Friar Tuck made a couple trips with my stuff while I sorted through things to send back. We walked to town. I picked up my boxes and sorted out my next few food drops on a bench outside the post office. The Post office was closed for lunch so I sent them UPS at the outfitter. Lula had forwarded my tent and some other stuff and she included a card, a picture of us in the Laundromat at Fontana Village and more dehydrated sausages ¢ yay! While I bought a couple things at the outfitter, Friar Tuck went and booked a tub at the hot spring for us tomorrow. Dawn is driving from Ashville tomorrow to join us for the afternoon. We had lunch and I went online at the library while Friar Tuck shopped at the dollar store. We stopped there again briefly on our way back to the bunk house. I spent the late afternoon hanging out, reading and listening to music. Yay! Music! Steve sent my MP3 player. Zen Yama is in the bunkhouse with us tonight and its about time for bed right now.
Date: 2010-04-11
From: Asheville, NC

To: Asheville, NC
Miles today: 0.0

I had a great day in Hot Springs. Got up and went to hang out in the parlor at the Duckett House with Friar Tuck, Red Hat, Squash and his girlfriend, drinking coffee and eating cheese popcorn.Got my stuff together a little after 11:00 and headed to town with Friar Tuck. Dawn found us in front of the library chatting with Hyway and a couple other hikers. Dawn and I had lunch then sat by the river and talked until it was time to meet Friar Tuck to go soak in the hot springs. We got there early, but our tub was empty so we got an extra 15 minutes. It felt great!Afterwards we grabbed some food at the sandwich shop (ran into Croft there who was ecstatic to have hiked her first 15-mile day) and headed back to the trail.We missed a turn and stopped at a gas station to get directions. Eddie called his dad from the parking lot. When we got back in the car I felt a very strong feeling not to get out of the car, that it was wrong to get back on the trail and that I should stay in the car and go back to Asheville. It was just a blank. I was tired and had just come off two zero days and a hot tub, so I figured I should keep on going.We got near the drop off and Dawn stopped. I was expecting to continue where we had left off but it was 7:00 PM and Friar Tuck expressed reservations about finding a campsite before dark since we would be heading up hill. So we backtracked 15 minutes to the spot by the Pigeon River we knew about. We started to pitch next to a tent that was already there. A couple of minutes later a guy came out of the woods and lost it all over us for wanting to camp there, so we left. We backtracked and found a nice spot to stealth camp beside I-40, which is closed.
Date: 2010-04-13
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: broken clouds

Another sunny day. Friar Tuck and I got up at 5:30 and were on the trail by 5:40. We hiked up Bluff Mountain. At the top, we got a cell signal so I left Lula a message. I forgot to say that yesterday I had a signal briefly ¢ just enough to pick up my messages, but then I could'nt get another call out. Friar Tuck and I said goodbye, but then we ended up hiking to Big Rock Spring together said goodbye again and Friar Tuck picked up the pace because he wanted to get to he outfitter before 5:00 PM to pick up his drop box. I took an early lunch break. There weren¢t many places to stop so I grabbed one when I found it. It was a little campsite by a stream. I could hear the water and the birds. I was joined by Pacer, Ace and Turtle. I hiked on to Deer Park Mountain shelter. I got there at 3:00 PM which was very good time for me. Friar Tuck had said he would leave a note in the log so I would know when he got there (1:25 PM) so, not including the breaks I took he was only about half an hour¢s hiking time ahead of me. I hiked the rest of the way to Hot Springs in 2 hours. I made excellent time today even though there was more uphill than I expected. I feel good, except that I am having a problem with my left big toe. It¢s been hurting off and on at night. Last night it was worse and I noticed that there is some numbness. So I¢m going to talk to someone at the outfitter tomorrow about boots. I¢ve used this same model boot since 2007 (about 1400 miles) with no problem so it might be the Superfeet insoles. I put in this year, making the toe box too small. Otherwise I love the Superfeet.When I walked into Hot Springs I didn¢t know where I was going to stay. I figured the Alpine Motel would be full, but decided to check anyway. Pacer was with me. I met him coming out of the restaurant. He didn¢t have any money until his check hits the bank tomorrow. I told him we could share the room and he could pay me back in the morning.I took a shower, had a hamburger at the diner and headed back into town. I thought maybe I would run into Friar Tuck and Lula, but they must have changed either the time or place of the pick up. Mostly, I just wanted to say to Friar Tuck, ¢See? It¢s silly to say goodbye on the trail. You never know when you¢ll meet up again.¢ Or not, I guess.