morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2017-04-17
From: Standing Bear Hostel

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: scattered clouds

Grateful (the guy I've been hiking with the last several days) and I set a big goal today - go over 15 miles. And we made it. We've got to start doing more of these days to have any chance of making Katahdin before it closes for the season. My early troubles on the trail and my week off have moved my finish from about September 15 to early October and if it snows in Baxter State Park in October they will close Mount Katahdin - the official terminus of the AT.Our schedule today took us up and over Snowbird Mountain - a pretty good climb of a couple thousand feet. The top of the mountain is a beautiful grassy bald with a UFO Docking Station right on top. I have to say that the UFO people are pretty smart to build their docking station here because it's in the middle of nowhere and we won't even know they have arrived util it's too late. (Some other hikers told me that the docking station is really an FAA navigational beacon but I think those people are really UFO people in disguise. I tried to keep a close eye on them.)The next highlight was Max Patch Bald, a popular day hiking area with a grassy bald that seemed to reach half a mile in every direction. And someone had left trail magic on top of the bald - a trash bag full of ice and cold drinks. I dug around in the bag and found one Fresca - one of my very favorites. It was as if they knew I was coming. And a little delight like that in the middle of nowhere is certainly magical!The weather held out and we had a warm, dry day of hiking. But on top of Max Patch we saw rain falling a couple valleys behind us which motivated us to move on to the shelter as quick as we could.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-18
From: Roaring ForK Shelter

To: Deer Park Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: light rain

We tried for another longish day today and made it, knowing that we had saved tomorrow for a short day into Hot Springs.After over a week of beautiful weather we walked almost all day through the rain - sometimes light, sometimes hard. So everything is wet or damp but that's how it is in the forest. The worst part was coming over Walnut Mountain and into the face of some significant wind. We started wet and not we're wet and cold but we just layer up and walk through it. A wet day on the trail seems still like a good day on the trail.We've settled into a bubble of about 12 to 15 familiar faces, although we get passed by people who move much faster and then seem gone forever. And to my delight when I reached the shelter I caught up to three ladies I walked with in the early days of the Smokies. It was good to see them (although one of them was the nice lady who thought my trail name should be Mr. Magoo - I'm still searching for some self awareness of how I can give off that persona - any help would be appreciated.We have seen abundant wildflowers and Grateful is a bit of an expert on wildflowers so I've been learning about the three kinds of trilliums, the Spring Beauties, two kinds of anemones, the Rattlesnake Lilly, the Trout Lilly, and something he calls Dutchman's Britches, among several other kinds of flowers. It's nice to learn a little about all these wonderful flowers we see everywhere but sometimes I wish he'd talk a little faster while it's raining. I taught him about the May Apple which is abundant back in my Indiana home, and, apparently, abundant on the Trail.As we crossed Max Patch yesterday my phone froze up on me while taking pictures and then when it came back to life it had done a factory reset - it's an old phone that I repurposed for this hike but it was disappointing to lose everything on the phone. I have no contact information including phone numbers, and all the pictures I've been taking are gone so i'm not able to post them to the journal. I have pictures from Max Patch on but none of those I've taken on the first month of the trail.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-19
From: Deer Park Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 3.2
Weather: scattered clouds

We saved the last three miles from yesterday for a morning walk into Hot Springs. The trail goes down Main Street of Hot Springs and it's a great place to stay. Our first stop was at the Smoky Mountain Diner and I had the Classic Breakfast - three eggs, ham, hash browns and biscuits and gravy. It sounds like a lot but it wasn't. Maybe a burger for lunch - who knows.These small trail towns are very welcoming to the AT hikers and the Diner was filled this morning with hikers just in off the trail, those who had stayed the night before and those who chose to take a zero and stay two nights. We met again a number of hikers who had moved ahead of us and that's always a fun way to start the day - sharing stories with people you've met along the way.We're in Hot Springs only for the day to catch up on chores like laundry, resupply of food, mailing stuff home that is no longer needed and most importantly personal hygiene. I plan to find a beer somewhere, as well.We will be off again tomorrow for a six day hike into Erwin, TN so it's likely I won't be able to update the blog until then but I'll keep taking good notes and try to share as much as I can. I had read during my preparation phase that cell signals were pretty available on the trail but so far not so much.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-20
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Deep Gap Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Left Hot Springs early crossing the French Broad River. I've crossed the River many times on Interstate 40 or 24. At that point the river is wide and looks more like a lake but at Hot Springs it's a very different kind of river. At this point it seems more of an adventure river with some rapids and boulders in the middle of the river. I was told that this section is used a lot by rafters and kayakers.We had two snake surprises today. Grateful was walking up front and both times he let out of big whoop of surprise. I noted to myself both times that my training has really taken hold because in both cases I immediately dropped down into my prepare to flee quickly stance.In the first case there was a big black snake, maybe rat snake, maybe something else, stretched across the trail. After a bit of a standoff it decided to move on. Later we crossed a small garter snake which still caused Grateful to let out a pretty big holler. But as I said before in both cases I was ready to hightail it in the opposite direction.At the end of the day we decided to stretch the day another 1.2 miles and stayed at a camping area by ourselves. I'm not keeping up too strong a pace and at the current rate I'm not going to finish until sometime in October which puts the final walk into Katahdin a little in jeopardy. If the snows come early Baxter State Park will close access to Katahdin and I won't be able to finish the hike. It's a constant internal battle between making the miles and doing it in a way that doesn't threaten burnout or injury. I'm hoping over the next couple of weeks that I can pick up more miles.
Date: 2017-04-21
From: Deep Gap Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: scattered clouds

We had an interesting day including mileage that put me ahead of my goal. The rain started today and we walked in a steady downpour for several hours. Thunder and lightning followed us all along the trail.Near the end of the hike we had the choice of going over what was described as an exposed ridge which is 'rocky and treacherous' or taking the bad weather bypass. I wimped out and took the bypass because although I'll do rocky or treacherous I won't do them at the same time in a thunderstorm. The bypass was pretty level and skirted the top of the mountain.It turns out there are three ways to climb a mountain. We do a lot of ridge climbing to get up mountains. Ridge climbing is the worst kind because you literally walk up the spine of the mountain and it's generally steep and straight up. Another way is to approach the mountain through a series of easy grade switchbacks.   This is much better because although the mountain might be steep the switchbacks are usually cut at an acceptable grade. But the best way is when you find the switchbacks and then at the top the trail skirts around the top so you don't have to climb as high. These are my favorites climbs. The bad weather trail skirted the mountain top which allowed us to avoid any danger and to have a pretty pleasant walk up the mountain.The rain broke at the end of the day just long enough to set up the tent and to cook some dinner but almost as soon as I climbed into the tent it started to rain. The all day rain made the pack even heavier with all the water that it soaked up. That, with the extra days of food I was carrying to get me all the way to Erwin, made for the heaviest pack I've carried so far.
Date: 2017-04-22
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Sam's Gap
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: fog

The rain held steady all through the night creating ample paranoia. Although I know I have a fit tent I woke up several times, turned on the head lamp and inspected the tent for any leaks or other problems. Every time I found everything bone dry but when you lay in a tent for hours on end listening to a steady hard rain you get sure that some disaster is about to happen.At morning the rain slacked a little and I broke camp in a drizzle. And then we set off walking again. Before the day was over we had walked through about 18 hours of rain.The forecast was for 100% chance of rain all day Sunday. MY hiking partner, Grateful was able to contact his wife and she was gracious enough to rescue us from the rain. Grateful lives a few miles off the trail so it wasn't without some inconvenience that she came but she was able to pick us up off the trail at about 7 p.m. and deliver us back to Grateful's home where we planned tow wait out the rain. And it was a good thing because it did indeed rain all day long on Sunday - what turned out to be a zero day two days sooner than expected.We used Sunday to rig up Grateful's pickup truck with a camper top and a couple of foam mattresses so we could plan on some slackpacking for a few days. It turns out that the trail around Erwin, TN has many parking areas spaced far enough apart so that we could plan several days of hiking with our heavy packs off. What we planned to do was to drop one hiker at one parking area, drive to the other and have the second hiker walk back to the original drop off place. This will allow the first hiker to reach the truck and drive back at the end of the day to pick up the other hiker. We plan to give it a try for a while to see if we can pick up more miles and avoid the problem of finishing too late in October. We'll see hot it goes.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-24
From: Spivey Gap

To: River Road
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: moderate rain

We headed back to the trail from Grateful's House today intending to try out our slackpacking plan. The drive from his house is a few hours so it is impossible to get a full day's hike in. But we chose a short (11.1 mile) section of the trail to try it out and shortly after noon I dropped off Grateful at River Road and the parked the truck at Spivey Gap. the walk was easy and uneventful. Without the weight of the heavy pack we were able to get 11 miles done in about four and a half hours - still plenty of time for dinner and some errands.Tomorrow we'll go back and cover the section we skipped and test the plan over harder terrain and longer miles.We'll be using the truck as a mobile shelter for several days as long as we can always find a good place to park for the night. We'll see how it goes.It rained a bit during the day - five days in a row at this point - and the clouds kept the sun away all day.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-25
From: Sam's Gap

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: light rain

Today I went back to Sam's Gap where I had been rescued from the rain and started back down the trail. We prepped for the hike in a drizzle but by the time the day started the rain had stopped. Just after noon the sun broke through for the first time in five days. I walked through a morning fog at the top of the mountain but finally saw blue skies on the was down the other side. The trail was a quagmire - mucky, muddy and slippery. The trekking poles got a workout today and kept me from falling a number of times. I'm learning how great my Saloman hikers are - they truly are waterproof. I tried a few time to get my feet wet by stumbling into water holes but the shoes kept them dry.   Thanks goodness for that!We're still trying to work out spots we can do our car swap with - we know it won't work for long but as long as we're near Erwin it should work for a bit.The next week and a half we will make a push to Damascus - another highlight of the hike and very near the quarterpole of the entire hike. It will be great to hit 500 miles.We passed 300 miles during our long day to our rescue at Sam's Gap and someone had marked the spot on the trail using twigs to make a 300 mile signpost n the ground. They probably used a GPS device or a phone with a GPS driven app to get the mileage right. You see those a lot n the trail, especially with the younger crowd. And now I'll be anxous to see the 500 mile mark!Until then...
Date: 2017-04-26
From: River Road

To: Beauty Spot Gap
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Today's hike was up and out of Erwin, TN, ending at the Beauty Spot Gap parking area. Beauty Spot gets its name from the west facing view of mountain ranges and the incredible sunset behind them. I tried to capture the sunset with my camera but I'm sure it won't do it justice. I was walking the section backwards today so I was able to meet a lot of trail acquaintances as they came up from Erwin. I was surprised to meet five people I had met in the first week on the trail, including two I met on the first day. One of them was Schlog who John and I and our wives met at the top of Springer the day before we left. I assumed that all those people were way ahead of me given my unexpected nine days off early in the trip. I guess I'm not moving as slowly as I thought. The sun was bright and warm today - the first sunny day in about five or six days. People on the trail seemed to have a lot more energy. Let's hope the good weather stays around for a while. One benefit of the rain are the quiet creeks that have all turned into fast flowing mini rivers. As you approach them you can hear the sound of the falling water and they are always fascinating to watch as the water flows and falls around rocks, boulder and tree stumps. I don't think I'll ever grow tired of that. In a little over a week I'll reach Virginia and put the mountains of Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee  behind me.  I'm certainly looking forward to that! Until then
Date: 2017-04-27
From: Beauty Spot Gap

To: Iron Mountain Gap
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Walking the trail has a strong sense of Groundhog's Day - every day seems the same. You wake up, struggle to get your clothes on in cramped quarters, break camp, eat something for breakfast, start walking, break occasionally for rest and hydration, break around noon for lunch, take an afternoon break and then reach your destination and set up camp Most things become routine at first and later simply habitual. But every once in a while you get a surprise.The best surprise I haven't had so far is not seeing any bears (although I wonder how many bears have seen me). I'll be happy to not see a single bear the entire trip, although I've heard of all sorts of encounters from other hikers along the trail. Most sightings have been from a distance and no one seems any worse for the encounters at this point.This morning pretty early in the walk I rounded a bend and had a big surprise. Just off to the left of the trail was a small pine tree of some sort all decked out with Christmas bulbs and other decorations. A couple of months before I started hiking I read of a small group of young people who go out into the woods and decorate a tree as a memorial to someone. They don't identify where the trees are and they don't expect any return for their work but I hope that my delight in seeing the AT Christmas Tree serves as a statement of gratitude for what they do. This tree was dedicated to the memory of Max Norrell. I'll have to go online to learn more about Max. There are other trees that have been decorated - not all of them on the AT but I'm hopeful I'll find more.My second surprise of the day came late in the walk when I rounded the corner of a summit traverse and found a small crew of volunteers working on the trail. I've done a little bit of volunteer work on the Ozark Trail so I know how hard the work is. It was great to see their energy and focus and you could tell they enjoyed the work and one another's company. I thanked them for the work they do and received many smiles in return. These small encounters, or surprises, tend to make your day out on the trail and I hope I continue to stumble across many more surprises.I bumped into Schlog and Foreman again - two guys I met on the first day on the trail - and I hope I can stay up with them for awhile.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-28
From: Iron Mountain Gap

To: Carver's Gap
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: few clouds

Today's walk took me over roan Mountain one of the last big mountains of Tennessee. The trail didn't go over the top of the mountain but came close, rising to 6212 feet, according to my guidebook. The day was beautiful - sunny, warm and clear after a couple days of intermittent showers. Over the mountain and down into Carver's Gap - a major trailhead that attracts many tourists.I visited the Roan Mountain shelter just to see it. It's unique because it's one of the only four sided shelters in the southern part of the trail. It's also considered the coldest shelter on the trail because it sits at a higher elevation, 6193 feet, than any other shelter on the entire trail.I was slackpacking today, heading north, as Grateful and I continued to try our key swapping trick with his truck. When I came down onto Carver's I found the truck near the bathrooms with a cooler with cold pop in the back. That's a pretty good trail experience. The day was uneventful except for missing the final turn in the trail leading down to the Carver's Gap parking area. My missed turn took me down the mountain and dumped me onto a road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere and I had to backtrack a bit to find the right trail down to the parking area.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-29
From: Carver's Gap

To: US 19
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Heading north from Carver's Gap is an iconic part of the trail - up and over balds, spruce forests and groves of tree size rhododendrons. Many hikers consider this a highlight of the trail because of the varying terrain and the different types of forests and grass lands.It turned out to be the hottest day on the trail so far with temps reaching the low 80s. But a strong wind kept up all day to help me cool down a bit. I felt a little sunburn developing on the back of my neck and reached for the lotion. I was thankful that I remembered putting it in my day pack.Little Hump and Big Hump are two grassy knobs on the trail and both are pretty good climbs. You can see as far as you want up both of them and Big Hump surprises with three or four false summits. But at the top of Big Hump the views were as great as the sense of accomplishment.The evening before did provide some excitement. One of our tasks each day is to find a place to park the truck each night. We look for public land parking areas and last night we had a little trouble. We parked in a pull off that appeared to be in the national forest but shortly after stopping and man on a four wheeler pulled up right next to the truck and just glared at us. I asked if I could help him but he just kept glaring and racing the engine on his four wheeler. Needless to say we agreed that we didn't feel comfortable where we were, so we moved on. About a quarter mile down the road we saw the four wheeler guy again and he gave us an exaggerated salute - message taken!We then next went to a Baptist church nearby and spoke with the church's deacon about parking in their lot. He said we were selcome but didn't recommend it because there had been a history of slashed tires and broken windows for hikers in the area. He even shared with us a story about local roughnecks who burned his church down ("not even the FBI could figure out who did it"). So off we went to Mountain Harbor hostel where we paid $10 to park in their lot. They threw in a shower for each of us and we felt much safer - and cleaner.We knew some of the logistics with our shelter on wheels would be difficult but we knew if we just keep at it we could figure it out.Until then...
Date: 2017-04-30
From: US 19

To: Moreland Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.4
Weather: overcast clouds

Grateful and I knew that every once in a while we would have to put on our big packs and spend a night on the trail because the gaps between parking areas and trailheads would be too great. Today was our first day with full packs on after five days of slackpacking. And it turned out to be the worst day on the trail.The evening before we found Dividing Ridge Hostel, a tenting only hostel not far from our two day destination of lake Watugua. The onwer volunteered to drive us both back to US 19 so we could hike together instead of from our usual opposite directions - and that turned out to be a good thing.The day started like any other and we had a great walk along the beautiful Elk River, bumping into old friends and stopping occasionally for a great picture. We even hit some great trail magic, with hot dogs, hamburgers, cold pop, cookies and a few other goodies. 13 Year old Zachary was our host and he was a confident, generous and congenial young man any parent could be proud of.But shortly after leaving the trail magic, probably another mile to two after, Grateful took a fall and came up with pretty bad facila lacertaions and what looked like a broken nose. Like most head wounds there was blood everywhere and as I cam up from about 100 to 150 yeards from behind I was shocked to see his state. We cleaned him up as best as we could and worked through options before he and I walked back to the last forest service road we saw. Fortune smiled on us and we found a family that was out mushroom hunting and the father offered to drive Grateful to the hospital. We retrieved his pack and when I saw he was in good hands I continued on the trail walking to toward the truck. My intent was to get to the truck and search for Grateful the next day because I was pretty sure he would be spending the night in the hospital.  All I can say is that I thought about Grateful a lot that night, hoping that the damage was not as bad as it looked.