morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-04-28
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: broken clouds

Slept good last night in the shelter. Since no one tried to smother me, I guess my snoring wasn't too bad. On the trail by 8:30, and hiked by myself today. I tried to hike quietly as possible hoping to see a bear, not today. The first 6 miles had moderate up and downs. The next 6 mile was more difficult with sharp up and downs. The high light of the day was the great 360 degree view from Rocky Top Mtn. There were three girls on horse back on the trail today (Horses are allowed on some sections of the AT in the Smoky Mts). One horse was afraid to pass me, apparently afraid of my backpack. Some days I'm afraid of my backpack when going up hill. In camp by 4:45pm. Shelter full and 6 tenting.
Date: 2012-04-29
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: few clouds

Heard coyotes outside camp in the early morning and saw wild turkeys around the shelter. Left camp at 7:20am in anticipation for an exciting day. Clingmans Dome is on the schedule for today. Clingmans Dome is the highest point on the AT at 6643'. I slowly raised in elevation as I passed two Shelters. I had to filter water at the second shelter due to the climb and hot weather. The last 3 miles before Clingmans Dome the steepness increased. The trees have less leaves in the higher elevation. To my surprise the amount of pines increased, so the shade was a welcome addition. At one point I thought I summited the Mtn. only to realize I was on a lower ridge. Right before I reached the real summit I saw a bear and cub about 40' off the trail. There is an observation deck that stands about 25' above the mtn. for 360 degree views. I felt the western view into Tennessee was the best. From there it was 3.4 miles to the shelter. Upon arriving I was treated to a beer from a fellow hiker who carried 9 beers he got from a friend at Clingmans Dome. The shelter is almost a half mile off the trail and the water source is .2 miles passed the shelter. I passed the 200 mile point.PS: please excuse my typing, this keyboard is on my phone.
Date: 2012-04-30
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Newfound Gap/ Gatlinburg
Miles today: 4.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Out of camp at 7am for a town day. I got to the Gap by 9:20 due to the mostly down hill terrain. Upon arriving I find Bill, Tom and Kyle arranging A cab ride into town for us. Its Sunday and the Gap is 15 miles outside town. Since we made hotel arrangements the cab dropped us off at the AYCE breakfast place (we got our moneys worth). Shower, wash clothes, resupply, rest and eat again are on the schedule. I also need to attend to my hell blisters. Gatlinburg is a tourist town with alot to do, but since we are here for less than a day we don't see much.PS: Sunrise and sunset are about 32 minutes later than back home.
Date: 2012-05-01
From: Newfound Gap/ Gatlinburg

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: overcast clouds

The four of us took A taxi back to Newfound Gap and started hiking at 9:00am. Climbed 1000' to an elevation of 6000' in the first 2.5 miles. The legs felt pretty good during the climb and my stamina is improving. The back of my heels are not healing like I had hoped and the uphill climbs put pressure on the wounds. The views today were plentiful and fantastic. For most of the day I walked on a knife edge ridge with views east and west. The highlight was the side trail to Charlies Bunion, a rocky out crop with great views (click on the Photo tab to the left for additional photos). The shelter was 1/2 mile off the trail and down hill.
Date: 2012-05-02
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Sheltered
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Was on my way by 7:15am. The first 1/2 mile was spent climbing back to the trail (these miles don't count toward my daily miles. only AT miles are counted). The early morning views included the famous blue smoke in the valleys. The first half of the day included moderate up and downs peaking at 6330'. From there it was a decent of 1500'. Saw the wreckage from a military jet that hit the mountain in 1984. It rained this evening for about one hour, but we were in the shelter staying dry. The weather has been good, temperatures in the 60's and rain when i'm in town, in the shelter or in my tent. Only had to walk in the rain once in three weeks.
Date: 2012-05-03
From: Cosby Knob Sheltered

To: Standing Bear Hostel
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: few clouds

Out on the trail by 7:15am. Down for 500' then my last ascent in the Smoky Mts., 750' to the top of Mt. Cammerer. Then a 2400' descent to Davenport Gap Shelter for a snack. At the shelter I see Donut, Fire Walker and Jeremy. These are young and fast hikers who I have seen almost daily for weeks. The difference is I am out early hiking slow and steady, They sleep in and hike later in the day . After leaving the shelter I hike with Philly Tom. Suddenly Tom stops and jumps back. A 5' bull snake is across the trail.Our first snake sighting. By 3pm were at Standing Bear Hostel. Shower, wash and food are the order of the day. The cabin we rented straddles a creek. Philly Bill and Tom make rent-a-car arraignments to get back home to Philadelphia. Due to my heel problems I decide to join them so my heels have a chance to heal. My adventure to complete the AT will continue at A future date. Stay tuned.
Date: 2012-03-28
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Thought I would start my journal with a little information about me and some preliminary thoughts.My wife Cathy, aka Energizer Turtle aka ET, and I, aka Spider, have been hiking and backpacking for many years. We have hiked the complete Pacific Crest Trail on the 10-year plan...since we were still working full-time. We would hike once a month during the summer for 3-7 days averaging 12-15 miles a day. We loved our time in the woods so wanted to give the AT a try.However, like the PCT, we can't commit to 5-6 months to thru-hike, so we are going to hike it in 5 sections over the next 5 years. Unlike the PCT, where we went short distances and not in sequence, we plan to hike the AT from south to north in sequence.So we have started our preparation for the AT. 6 months ago I made the airline reservations, so we plan on flying to Atlanta on April 25 and start our hike the next day. Now we are heavily into the detail planning of food, food drops and gear. We had a little more luxury in our shorter PCT segments in carrying extra gear. For the AT we are trying to par down the weight to just what is necessary.
Date: 2012-03-29
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Went shopping yesterday at REI to pick up some freeze-dried dinners and a few other small gear items. I was also looking for a new pack. My current pack is 85 liters and weighs slightly under 6 lbs. With the amount of "stuff" I have decided not to take on the AT hike, I don't need that much volume and certainly don't want to carry a pack that heavy. I was attracted to a 65 liter pack at REI that only weighs 3 lbs. I need to go home and test that I can get everything into 65 liters.After getting home, ET (i.e. wife Cathy) and I went through all our gear to make sure we weren't duplicating anything that we didn't need to and decided on who should carry what. So now we could begin to calculate weight and volume of our packs. Our family room has become the AT staging area.We also went to Costco and bought some of the food for our lunches. We set aside areas in the family room to accumulate the food and other stuff we want to send to each of the mail drops. I hope this is the "storm" before the "lull"...because our family room looks like a disaster area!!Started watching the long-range forecasts for northern Georgia...wondering what weather we will face the first week on the trail. We were fortunate to only have bad weather i.e. rain or snow, on a small percentage of our PCT hikes. Doubt we will have the same luck on the AT.
Date: 2012-03-30
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

After squeezing some things down and eliminating a little bit more stuff, I think I can fit into the 65 liter pack I saw at REI two days ago, so I ordered it. Will probably recieve it early next week. I'm excited to give it a try on some of the local trails on shake-down hikes.I have spent the last month planning the details of the hike itself. I've mapped out the whole 400-mile section hike down to the location we plan to sleep at each night, miles traveled and where we want to take our zero days. I realize that once on the trail, the hike will really be what it will be, but we have reservations to fly back to San Francisco on May 30 and commitments with friends two days after that, so I needed to get a feeling for what kind of miles we needed to average to meet those deadlines and whether it was even doable. Also, I have found that we have a tendency to feel energetic at the beginning of a hike and to go more miles than, ultimately, our soft, urban feet and bodies can take. The result is blisters and very sore muscles. So I have planned this hike to start out slow for the first week to give us a chance to get "trail-hardened" before we start increasing the miles per day. I also have tried to break up the mail drops so we don't have to carry more than 6 days of food at any given point...thus keeping our packs at a manageable weight.We still have some modification to make to our gear to accommodate the pack space and weather conditions we expect to have. Also have a few more things to pick up at various stores. We will be sending out our first boxes in less than two weeks so need to start finalizing things.
Date: 2012-04-05
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

My new pack finally arrive and I was able to get everything in it...Whew!! It weighs 28 lbs without water and food...so this may be the lightest pack I have ever hiked long distance with!! ET finished sorting the food into the various piles to be shipped to us along the way. If we want to allow 3 weeks to ensure the box is there when we arrive, we need to ship our first box tomorrow!Arranged for my son Zak to update our journal while we are on the trail. Hopefully this will allow our family to keep track of us.We put our final list together of everything that we need to do before we leave for over a month. Our list has about thirty items on it, so we will be busy for the next three weeks. Fortunately most of our bills are paid electronically.
Date: 2012-04-14
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We have our food in boxes and ready to go. The first box was shipped 5 days ago to our first food drop 4 days into our hike. We will ship the next two boxes over the next week and the remainder will be given to my wife's mother to mail after we leave.We finished adjusting and repairing our gear and have almost everything in our packs to make sure it all fits!!I have confirmed our various plane reservations, made reservations at a hotel near SFO so we can make our 7am flight and will confirm with the Hiker Hostel pick up in Georgia next week.We have only a few things left on our To-Do lists for the hike. Just a few more things to arrange for leaving for over a month.We're starting to get excited!!
Date: 2012-04-17
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Tried out the new pack last weekend on a local trail that has many steep ups and downs....trying to simulate the first part of the AT. I loaded the pack with everything I plan to take on the AT including food and water. The trail was a 4.7 mile loop around a local reservoir and I did it in 2.5 hours. The pack rode well on my hips and stayed close to my back making it fairly easy to carry. I got a lot of strange looks from all the day hikers/strollers on the trail...and part of the hike time was stopping to explain what I was doing and where I was going. Meet two different pairs of folks out training for a hike on the Inca Trail to Manchu Picchu...something we did 2 years ago. Overall, very happy with the results of pack on this shake-down hike.We sent our second drop box out yesterday to the Budget Inn in Franklin, NC...where we plan our first zero day on the trail. For those who don't know, a "zero day", in hiking parlance, is a day without any miles hiked on the trail. I sent an email today to the Budget Inn to find out about room availability and shuttle service from the trail to their location. Hopefully they will get back to me in the next couple of days.Also sent an email to the Hiker Hostel in Georgia to confirm that we are still planning to arrive in Atlanta on 4/25 and are wanting to use their shuttle and hostel services to get us from Atlanta to their hostel and to the beginning of the AT the following day. This is a follow up to a message I sent them in January. At that time, they confirmed availability....hopefully it is still that way!!I'm reading lots of trail journals to become familiar with what to expect on the first few days of the trail. Also watching the long-range weather to see what the forecasts are for our first few hiking days....looks like a chance of showers. Guess we might as well test out the raingear early!!
Date: 2012-04-24
From: Home

To: San Francisco Airport (SFO)
Miles today: 0.0

Well we are on our way...kind of. We are at an airport hotel because our flight leaves at 7am and public transportation can't get us to the airport in time for the required 2 hours before take off. So it was weird to leave our house locking it up knowing we had no plans to be back for 35 days. We are carrying what we are going to carry on the AT and wearing what we will wear on the AT. The only thing extra is some reading material to occupy our time as we travel to Atlanta that will be tossed once we get there. The Hiker Hostel called and confirmed they will pick us up tomorrow at the North Springs station of Atlanta's mass transit system. The adventure begins!!
Date: 2012-04-25
To: Dahlonega, GA
Miles today: 0.0

We made it to the Hiker Hostel by ~5:30pm local time. This is a great service that Leigh and Josh provide. The morning began early at 4:30am when our alarm went off at the hotel. We caught the 5am shuttle to SF0. After checking our packs we made it thru security with enough time to get breakfast. We breathed a sigh of relief to see our packs being loaded on our plane...one less thing to worry about. Our plane left on time and actually landed early at Atlanta. We found our way to the MARTA and figured out which train to get on. We arrived at the end of the line, North Spring station, at 3:50pm...a little earlier that we had planned with the Hiker Hostel. So we had to wait for about 20 minutes until Willie showed up. About an hour later we stopped at Subway to pick up dinner (the Hostel only provides breakfast) and then on to the Hostel. Looks like there are a few other hikers here, but Willie said that they are hikers that have come off the trail. We will be the only ones going to the beginning of the trail tomorrow morning....it is only 15 miles away. So close we can almost taste it!!
Date: 2012-04-26
From: Dahlonega, GA

To: Stover Shelter
Miles today: 2.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 1: We are finally on the trail. We got up at 7am and had a nice breakfast courtesy of the Hiker Hostel. Then they tranported us to Amicalola Falls State Park Visitor Center. Here we weighed our packs and signed the official thru-hiker log: ET was number 981 with a pack weight of 31 lbs and Spider was number 982 with a pack weight of 37 lbs. After a few obligatory pictures of the arch that you must pass under to start trail, we headed up the AT Approach Trail at exactly 9am. For those of you that don't know, the AT starts and ends at the top of mountains. So in both cases you have to use approach trails to get from where you can park a car to the start/end of the AT. So up the Approach Trail we went, climbing, climbing, climbing!!! The trail is 8.8 miles to the start of the AT and about a 2000 foot climb. We finally arrived at the southern terminus of the AT at 2:40pm. After a few pictures, we finally took our first step on the AT. Fortunately it was mostly downhill to the shelter we are staying at..we arrived at 4:30pm. There are 4 other hikers here, the weather was overcast and windy most the day with temp at 70 degrees.
Date: 2012-04-27
From: Stover Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: broken clouds

Day 2: We awoke at about 7am. We had thunder and lightning in the late evening after we went to bed and it rained a little, but nothing was wet in the morning. We hit the trail at 7:55am. Today was all about ups and downs. The AT in Georgia is different than the PCT in that there are very few switchbacks...instead it is mostly straight up and down the mountain with lots of stairs. According to Willie from Hiker Hostel, that's because most the land next to the AT is private land and there is often not enough to allow for switchbacks. We had overcast skies again today with temperatures in the mid-60s...except the humidity must be 80 percent..even ET is sweating!!Some comments about these shelters we are staying at. They are provided for AT hikers so, in theory, you could hike the AT without a tent if you planned your daily distance correctly. There is also water and a privy nearby. However we are sleeping in a tent because the shelters sometimes fill up and they are populated by resident mice that run across your face and sleeping bag at night...our tent is just fine!! Of course we have yet to test it in a violent thunderstorm...the shelter might look more attractive then!!
Date: 2012-04-28
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Jarrad Gap
Miles today: 10.9

Day 3: Woke at 7:10am to a damp morning. Everything seemed wet to the touch...including our tent. It had not rained although others staying at the shelter said there had been a spectacular lightning storm during the night..we slept through it!! We hit the trail at 8:30am and immediately began to climb. We soon were walking in the cool fog. It stayed that way most of the morning. Not much to see anyway. The AT is called the long green tunnel because most of the time you are hiking in a green forest with green ground cover bordering the trail. So for three days now about all we have seen is trees...they block or break up any potential for views. Every once in a while a rock will jut out or a road will open up a pass and we will get a quick glimpse of the countryside. The green ground cover is deceiving too since most of it is made up of poison ivy...so no just plopping down for a rest wherever you want!! The picture gives you an idea of the green tunnel. You can also see the white mark on the tree. This is called a white "blaze" and marks the AT. All side trails are normally marked with a blue blaze.After the foggy morning, the sun finally came out after lunch. Arrived at our campsite at 4:30pm We are "stealth" camping just below Jarrad Gap...no shelter tonight. The shelter we had planned to camp at is in an area with a "bad" bear so the Forest Service requires us to have a bear canister to stay there. So we stopped about 1.5 miles short of shelter, just outside the beginning of the bear canister enforcement zone. Tomorrow we plan on hiking through the "zone" and stealth camp at a gap on the other side of it.
Date: 2012-04-29
From: Jarrad Gap

To: Hopgen Gap
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

Day 4: Up at 7:15am and on the trail by 8:20am. Immediately started climbing Blood Mountain...named for the results of a battle between the Creek and Cherokee indians. This is the highest mountain the AT will pass over in Georgia at 4450 feet. Once over, it was down, down, down to Neel Gap. Important for us because this was where we had sent our box of food for the next 6 days...and it was there..Whew!! Of course we had to have some pizza, hot sandwiches and ice cold drinks while we were there!! Ended up spending 80 minutes there...mmm. Spider calls places like these and towns near the AT "vortices" because, like those in outer space, they suck you in and it is tough to get away!!After pulling ouselves away, we continued down the AT. It passes right through the building at Neel Gap. Apparently this is the only place on the whole AT that this happens. The rest of the day was several more ups and downs with the last being the steepest...a lot harder carrying packs full of 6 days of food!! One local we met on the trail pointed our a bunch of tree knocked down in a circle on a mountainside across the valley. He said they were knocked down by a tornado in April 2011!! We finally made it to the spring we were going to stealth camp by at 6:30pm. Just enough daylight to set up camp and eat dinner. Weather has change today was clear and sunny most of the day so to add to the humidity, we have hot sun!!
Date: 2012-04-30
From: Hopgen Gap

To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: few clouds

Day 5: The day started at 7am. We hit the trail at 8:30am with a gradual climb, for a change. In fact most of the day was one of gradual climbs and descents partly because we followed an old logging road much of the day. Ironically the toughest climb was at the end of the day to get to the shelter. We arrived at the shelter at 4:45pm.Some of our excitement today was seeing a hawk up close as we were resting at a gap and seeing our first rattlesnake. It was about 6 ft off the trail, 5 ft long and about as big around as Tom's wrist. It certainly got Tom's attention when it started rattling when Tom began to walk by it. Interesting timing for the event because we had just been talking about not seeing any animal life...except for the bugs and a few little birds.The picture today shows our tent set up at tonights shelter. It is our home away from home. When we get into camp we have a routine on setting up the tent, moving into the tent and storing everything in its place. We are probably more organized on the trail than we are at home!!The weather today was a carbon copy of yesterday: around 60 degrees in the AM with a clear sky. As the day progresses it warms up to the mid-70s with fairly high humidity. We had expected to be dealing with rain and thunderstorms...but so far we have lucked out. Hope our luck continues!!
Date: 2012-05-01
From: Blue Mountain Shelter

To: Sassafras Gap
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 6: We knew we had a long day today so we got up earlier and hit the trail at 7:55am. We had a steep descent of over 1000 ft in elevation only to climb back up 1000 ft....and because that was so much fun, we descended 800 ft so we could climb another 1200 ft..and that was just the beginning of the day!!. I think the trail designers on the AT were sadists!!This second mountain we climbed was Tray Mountain it is only 20 ft shorter, at 4430 ft, than Blood Mountain that we climbed a couple of days ago. I took the picture to show that we do get out of the "green tunnel" every so often. What you can,t see is that behind me as I was taking the picture are huge thunder clouds. They started rumbling about the time we got to the top. Needless to say we snapped the picture and kept moving. Neither of us were interested in being a human lightning rods. A little further down the trail, we were presented with a little Georgia "liquid sun"...the first time we have been rained on so far..but I suspect not the last.Made it to our gap where we are stealth camped for the night at 5:35pm. Happy to have completed this day. Dinner and to bed so we get up and do it all over again tomorrow!!