morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-04-13
From: Wayha bald

To: Ruffis Morgan 
Miles today: 16.0

4-13-08 day 15Ruffis Morgan shelter What a day! Got really cold last night. Not quite cold enough to freeze the water bottles, but close. The strong wind all night keep't that from happening. Dark clouds started to blow in during the early morning, but by noon had broken up and the sun started to break through. Even so, it was very chilly when in the wind. Wore hat and gloves most of the day. It was clear enough for some outstanding views today. First a lookout from Copper ridge bald, then from Rocky bald (which required a short blue blaze to get to ) and finally Wesser bald, which has a observation tower on top. I got to Wesser shelter about 3:30. The shelter was in the wind and it was still cold. The next shelter was only 4.9 miles away and only .7 from NOC. It was a hard decision to push on, being that late in the day and having already done some 12 miles.A check of the weather radio convinced me to push on. NOA was predicting up to 1 inch of snow at the higher elevations over night and the shelter is at 4100 feet. That qualifies.So, I dumped the water I had lugged down .1 miles the trail, ate my last Pop Tarts and headed out at 4:30. The trail went over a series of knobs on the ridge line and then came out to the "Jumpup", which should be called the "fall off", as the trail starts a steep and rocky decent from there. Still some very good views, despite the threatening skys. Every so often frozen rain or hail would come out of the sky. My right knee almost gave out during The first part of the steep rocky decent. That would not have been a good place to be cripple (not that any where is!) and thankfully the knee got better after a short while. The rest of the decent was just long and slow.Finally made it to Ruffis Morgan shelter about 7 pm. This is an old and small shelter and full up. Someone had left a 6 pack of beer there, so at least we all had a drink. I set up my bivy and cape tarp for the night. Was reasonably warm all night with the bivy, even though it was almost as cold out as the night before.
Date: 2008-04-14
From: Ruffus Morgan 

To: NOC
Miles today: 0.7
Weather: light rain

4-14-08 day 16NOCSince NOC was only .7 miles away, took a late start. Good day to be off t e trail, as it's still quite chilly out with occasional light rain. Have caught back up with many of the April 1st starters here. Bunking with key chain, Y2K and slightly.Spent some more money at the outfitter here, a new light as I lost my spare, a disposable camera, 4 oz jar for jelly and one freeze dried meal all for just $40 and change.Looks like a good sized crowd will be heading out of here in the morning.
Date: 2008-04-15
From: NOC

To: sassafrass gap
Miles today: 7.0

4-15-08 day 17Sassafrass shelter Weather cleared, bright, clear and chilly morning. Breakfast at the rivers end resturant - french toast and sausage. Then the dreaded slow 6 mile climb out of NOC. Along the way there were limited views over to the Smokies and could see that there was significant snow on the tops of them.Eventually reached a rocky outcrop with view back into gorge and NOC complex. After having the veiw to myself for a few minutes, there was soon a good crowd there as everyone stopped for the view and lunch. The climb then continued along a narrow ridge line for awhile before the final accent to the top of the bald. Along the way there were patches of snow on the shaddy side of trees. Then a bit of down hill and we were at the shelter. Looks like 10 or 12 of us here tonight. Getting cold again. Lows should be in the 20's early in the morning.
Date: 2008-04-16
From: sassafrass gap

To: brown fork gap
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: clear sky

4-16-08 day 18Brown gap shelter Another cold night, not quite freezing but close. Just about the comfort level of my bag. Bright almost full moon and lots of stars after the moon set. Morning dawned also clear, bright and chilly. The veiw from the top of Cheoah bald was so nice I spent some time there and took some pictures. The temperature quickly rose as the morning progressed, becoming quite warm by the afternoon. The trail was something of a roller coaster, with a number of ups and downs, some of them somewhat steep. After 7 miles, finally decend into Stechoah gap, where there were several picnic tables and most of last night's group were doing lunch. At first I thought there was trail magic goingn on, but unfortunately that was not the case. The accent out of the gap was long and steep at times, seemed like it would never end, often the case at the end of the day. When I finally got to the shelter, only one otber person there. Everyone else had pushed on the 4 miles to a camping spot up the trail. However, by late afternoon, the shelter was full. Most had come all the way from NOC, a hard 15 mile day, so new faces and names to try and remember.Sky is still clear, but should be somewhat warmer tonight. Tomorrow I will try to do the 12 miles to Fontana dam, which should be a lot easier that the 9 mile of today. Will also try to get a room at the Hike Inn for friday night and the ride to town to get supplies for the Smokies.
Date: 2008-04-17
From: brown gap

To: fontana dam
Miles today: 12.7
Weather: broken clouds

4-17-08 day 19Fontana hilton shelter Finally - Fontana dam, gateway to the Great Smokie Mountains ! Last night was much warmer than the night before, quite pleasant sleeping temps. Another clear morning and warmed up quickly. Another day of hiking up and down, though not as bad as yesterday. Just a typical day on the AT. Took lots of breaks along the way. The final few miles were down hill, sometimes steeply. Lots of wild flowers popping up along the trail as we decended to lower altitudes. Even the Trilliums were starting to bloom. Once we got to the road connecting to the village, both the coke machine and the phone to call for a shuttle ride were broken. So we had to hike another mile, up and over another ridge of course, to get to the shelter. Plenty of hikers here again, they just keep showing up. Some have stayed over from yesterday. I was able to hitch a ride over to the village and get a burger for dinner, another $10 meal. I was hoping for cell phone reception to call the Hike Inn and see if they had a room for tomorrow night, but can't seem to find a spot with coverage. So, looks like will hang out here tomorrow and get supplies at the general store. Not a great selection, but enough to get by with. Tomorrow I will also decide what route to take through the Smokies. With the number of hikers here the shelters will be pretty crowded along the AT stretch. Thinking of doing the low land route at least to the cross road, then hitching up to New Found gap to continue along the ridge. We will see.
Date: 2008-04-18
From: fontana dam

To: hike inn
Miles today: 0.0

4-19-08 day 21Hike InnCalled the inn in the morning and was told they were full that night. I took a shower at the dam and a little while later Frank from the hike inn came to pick up Burben and found out there was a cancelation, so could go with them. It was a good day to take a zero, sunny and warm. Just sat around the portch and played with the cat. At 5 we got a ride into town for aa meal and grocery store run. Had a chicken parmerson dinner which was quite good and bought 5 days of food, so 12 pounds worth, for the trip through the Smokies.Found out "Skywalker", a guy I meet on the trail here 3 years ago had written a book about his thru hike and had sent a copy to the Hike Inn. I skimmed the book and is fairly interesting reading.
Date: 2008-04-19
From: hike inn

To: russel field 
Miles today: 13.8

4-19-08 day 21Russell field shelter.Rain moved in overnight, then started to clear about 8 am. By the time we got back to the dam, the clouds were breaking up and some sun was shining. Cooler then the last few days, which made for a good day to hike. In theory, the dam crossing was still closed to hikers, requiring a long 2.5 mile detour, with a long decent and climb back up. I simply walked across the dam, risking a $125 fine, but there was no one around and hasn't been for several days, so everyone has been ignoring the detour. The climb into the Smokies isn't as bad as some of the others we have done so far, but is still a significant and long climb. I took it slow and easy. It took until about 4:30 to do the 10 miles to the first shelter, Molly ridge. There was a ridge runner in residence, who suggested pushing on to here to get a jump start on tomorrow's hike. So I did another 3.1 miles, which was pretty easy and quick. Just 4 of us here tonight, 2 younger kids which started April 5th and the the section hiker "'Bourbon" who was at the inn last night with me. The weather should be clear and sunny tomorrow, hope to do fairly big miles.
Date: 2008-04-20
From: russel field 

To: double spring
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: overcast clouds

4-20-08 day 22Double spring shelter A long day - about 18 miles. Day dawned foggy and stayed that way untill nearly noontime. Clouds finally lifted and sun broke out from time to time, but remained cool, especially when in the wind. Wore windshell and gloves for most of the day. First 3 miles to Spencer field reasonablely easy, the next 6 to Derick's knob were much harder. Sun almost broke out when I got to the top of Thunder peak, but not enough to get any views. After the decent from Thunder peak, many short ups abd downs before finally reaching Derick's knob. The next 5 miles were suppost to be easy, and they were, relatively speaking. But not as easy as the profile map showed, as it didn't show as the little ups and downs. Finally arrived at Siller's Bald about 6 pm. Passed through areas which were carpeted by small white and pink wild flowers on either side of the trail. Very pretty.The place was quiet, with only "Sea bass" and a couple of day hikers there. The shelter journal urged us on to the next shelter, another 1.8 miles with an entry by "Key Chain" . Sercoming to per preasure, pushed on to Double Spring. It was a nice walk along a narrow ridge and climbed up to a small knob. Best views of the day from up there withthe sun low in the sky. The shelter was packed with many new faces when I finally stumbled in. Am tenting out rather than squeeze into the top bunk of the shelter. Being in top bunk mskes it hard to go out and do the midnight pee. Have nice site under some pines, a little piece of New England here in NC. Next to me are Key Chain and Franklin, who set up tents before me. At 5500 feet and clearing skys, going to be a cold night, but should have a good view from Clingmans dome tomorrow if the forcast is correct.
Date: 2008-04-21
From: double spring

To: ice water spring
Miles today: 13.8

4-21-08 day 23Icewater spring shelter There was frost on the grass near the shelter in the morning, so it got below freezing for a bit before dawn. Got cold enough I had to put socks and longjohns on in the middle of the night. But at least it was crystal clear and the wind died down. We got a bit of a late start, waiting for the sun to warm us up some. Some nices views on the ridge along the climb up to Clingmans dome. Once up to the tower, there were many tourists there. View for the tower was about as good as it gets, with visablity out to the horizon. If it could be seen from there, it was viable today. This is something which doesn't happen too often. The trail from the top of Clingmans was still very new englandish. Pines, bog bridges, rocks and the like. The were a lot of large blow downs along the trail, some significant wind event happened in the last year or two.The last 4 miles up to Icewater spring was reasonablely easy, dispite the 1000 foot gain in elevation from New Found gap. Now we are onThe long ridge walk for the next 35 miles or so out of the park. There are a ton of hikers here tonight, even more than there were last night. Apparently there was a large group down in town last night and tney all came here today. Many new faces and some I haven't seen for awhile. Going to be another very cold night, but am in a full shelter and might be warmer with all the body heat.
Date: 2008-04-22
From: ice water spring

To: tri-corner knob
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

4-22-08 day 24Tri-corner knobBrilliant stars untill the moon came out, just a few days past full. Yet another clear and chilly dawn. Some frost on the ground. Warmed up nicely with a little sun.Views along thr ridge walk were spetaculer. We have been blessed with picture perfect weather through the park so far. This is a rare event and we are very lucky to have it. 13 mile day, taken slowly with many rest stops at the numerous vistas.The shelter here is full to overflowing again. We have caught up to some slow hikers and fast ones have caught up to us. Most, including our little gang of Key Chain, Sea Bass, Y2K and Franklin are trying to make Hot Springs by Saturday for the trail fest there. The weather is suppost to stay nice for a couple more days, then some chance of rain.
Date: 2008-04-23
From: tri-corner knob

To: davenport gap
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: scattered clouds

4-23-08 day 25Davenport gap shelter We have just about completed the 70 miles of the park today, in just 4 days!Yet another fine day in the park. A little warmer and more cloudy than the last few days, but still fine. We sure have some unbelievablely fine weather for our walk in the park.Reasonablely easy walk today with only one long slow climb. Some more spetaculer views here and there off the ridges. I stopped and sat on a rocky thrown outcrop, the last high view in the Smokies before decending into the gap and out of the park.Only our core group here at the shelter, plus one new comer. A big change from the large crowd at last nights camp. Most of the others either went on to Standing Bear hostel, are camping out down by the Pigion river, or are at the shelter 7 miles back.I'm starting to feel very good, especially after lunch and a vitamin "I" pill. Starting to get some spring in my knees going down hill. Tomorrow we go to the Standing Bear hostel, get some supplies and head for Hot Springs.
Date: 2008-04-24
From: davenport gap

To: groundhog creek
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: scattered clouds

4-24-08 day 26Groundhog creek shelter Warm night at Davenport shelter, being at a low altitude. 3 miles down hill to the I-40 crossing and sharply up hill to the Standing Bear hospital. A resupply of food for the next few days and frozen pizza for lunch. Then another long up hill climb to the top of Snowbird Mt. Our first real bald with good views backwards towards the Smokies. A rest stop on top with the FAA becon to enjoy the veiw. Then a 3 mile down hill stumble to the shelter.Small group here tonight, just the core group plus Rock and Roll and Orion. Most of the other hikers are still at Standing Bear. The plan is to get up real early and do a 20 mile day tomorrow. Would like to see the sun rise on top of Max Patch, but unlikely we will get up there that early, as it is several miles up hill from here. Then it will be a fairly short 7 mile day to get to Hot Springs, maybe by noon for the trail festival. Most of us have to wait untill Monday for packages at the PO, so will have a zero day in town Sunday. After all the big miles we have been doing, going to be needed.
Date: 2008-04-25
From: groundhog creek

To: catpen gap
Miles today: 13.9

4-24-08 day 26Catpen gap tenting Oh man, what a day!Key Chain got us all up at 4 am and we were on the trail by 5. Still plenty dark, with a 3/4 moon in the sky. I took off by headlamp, but the battery quickly started to fade. There was enough moon light and the trail was clear of major obstacles, so I hiked by moon light alone.By about 7 am we had covered about 3.5 mikes to Brown gap. Dawn was just starting. There was a SUV with trailer and Tennessee volunter canopy set up at the gap, but no one around, being so early. I started to walk up the next hill just as the rest of the gang came down into the gap. They made enough noise to wake up the guy sleeping in the trailer, who asked "who wants breakfast ?" Of course we all did. By this time, I had walked back down the hill to see what was going on. Trail magic!This delayed us by 2 hours, but we had a good omlet, orange juice and other goddies. Well worth the delay, because there was probably no was we were going to get to the top of Max Patch to see the sun rise anyway, it still being 3 miles away. Too bad we didn't hit the trailmagic for lunch or dinner, as they were going to be doing burgers and stakes. We finally got to the summit of Max Patch about 10 am and spent some time there enjoying the fantastc view.The trail for the next 4 miles was fairly easy and we meet several groups out working on the trail. We also pass through an area with prolific Trilliums and other wild flowers growing on the hills along the trail.By about 3 pm we got up and over Walnut Mt and to the shelter there. A very old, small and run down place. Worse, there has been recent bear activity, with several groups losing there food. Aparently, the bear(s) are not shy of people and have gone into tents with hikers inside. A thin sheet of nylon is no barrier to a bear!Even so, we were considering staying, especially after it started to sprinkle out. Then three kids who looked far from being clean cut and with poor and cheap gear showed up and no way were we going to spend the night with them there! No doubt they were ok, but it seemed it was best to let them have the place to themselves. So we pushed on a few miles and found a decent camp site. A light rain started up again, but thankfully didn't last too long. There is a small bald very close by with a good view and the sunset from tner was great. Hopefully we are out of the besrs normal cruseing range and will not be bothered. We didn't make quite the miles we hoped for today, but came close. We are all dog tired and its not likely we get up at 4 am again!We should be in Hot Springs by early afternoon tomorrow.
Date: 2008-04-26
From: catpen gap

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: light rain

4-26-08 day 28Erwin's hostel, Hot Springs No rain overnight and all the food was still in the trees where we hung it, so it was a good night. We all slept in a bit, but Key Chain got up to see the sun rise from the nearby bald. The rest of the gang got up a bit later and we were on the trail by 8 am.Except for a few light showers in the late morning, nothing special about today's hike. Up some hills, down some hills, some limited views nere and there. All in all a fairly easy day, though it did start to get hot in the afternoon. It seems to be unseasonably warm lately.Last night I found out Y2K was suffering from blisters, so I gave him my bottle of New Skin. With just two applications, once last night and one this morning, he was walking much better today and was actually in the lead most of the day instead of trailing behind as he had been recently.We rolled into town about 3:30 after doing some 12 miles. Since this is Trail Feast day, lots of hikers in town this weekend, most drinking at the Pub. A number of hikers who got a day or two ahead of us are here, along with many we have not meet before. What few activities which were going on were over by the time we arrived. All in all, nothing to write home about. I had a burger with fries and two beers at the Pub, which set me back $21.00. At least they had a public Wi-Fi network, so was able to update the trailjournals. Having this PDA with Wi-Fi has been real handy. Most every town stop has had access. Not having to find a PC with internet access is one less chore to do.Town stops get expensive! We will be spending a zero here tomorrow, so the tab will grow significantly. We all need a day off after the long miles we have recently been doing, plus we all have packages at the PO which can't be had until Monday.All the accommodations in town pretty much full of course. I was able to get a spot to sleep at Elmer's Hostel. A creaky cot on a upstairs, outside porch which has a significant downward tilt to it. At least it's a warm and dry night out. The only real problem will be the nearby street lights, road noise, a constantly barking dog and the occasional freight train going through town. After sleeping in the woods for almost 4 weeks, not used to these things!
Date: 2008-04-27
From: Hot Springs

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

4-27-08 day 29Elmer's hostel Hot Springs NCZero day today. Nice, as it is currently raining pretty hard out this afternoon.Elmer's is an interesting place. An old victorian mansion, filled with curios and antiques. It feels like a muesam, a place where you look around and wisper. Still, a neat and unique place on the trail and an odd place to find in this tiny one street town in the middle of the NC mountains.Resting and buying the supplies needed for the next 70 miles to Erwin.
Date: 2008-04-28
From: Hot Springs

To: none
Miles today: 0.0

4-28-08 day 30Woke up to rain, so stayed in the warm and comfortable antique bed until 8:30 am. Wandered over to the Smokie Mt restaurant for breakfast of 2 eggs and 2 pancakes with bacon. Went to PO to pick up bounce box. Removed charger for PDA and added titanium alcohol stove someone abandoned at Laundromat, then sent box home, since I didn't need the stuff the last 10 day's figure I don't need it at all.Set up the charger system at Elmer's and it somehow miss functioned and blew a fuse. Elmer then made up a new rule forbiding the use of chargers. I don't know what went wrong, but it drained the battery in the solar charger. The battery took a charge with limited sun this after noon and the voltage booster still seems to work. I will have to wait for AC outlet again to see if AC charger still works.Rain didn't stop untill afternoon. Had light lunch tnen headed out of town after stopping to weigh pack at outfitters. 30 pounds, fully loaded with 5 days food. Not bad.Key Chain and Seabass stayed behind, but Franklin and Y2K also left town shortly after I did. Because of late start and all the other hikers heading to the next shelter, we stopped a bout 3 miles short of the shelter near a fire tower at top of xxx and tenting for the night. Rock and Roll (two people, rock and roll ) are also here. A cold front which triggered the rain has pushed through and it is now a bit chilly again. Not real cold, but much cooler than the last few days. We need to do a reasonablely big mile day tomorrow, maybe to Jerry cabin.
Date: 2008-04-29
From: none

To: little laura shelter 
Miles today: 19.6
Weather: broken clouds

4-29-08 day 30Little Laura shelter Sometime after we went to bed, it started to rain again. Then it got cold, real cold. Cold enough to freeze the rain onto to tent. We all stayed in the sack for awhile hoping the sun would warm things up, but clouds keepet that from happening untill well into the afternoon.We finally got moving just to warm up. Trail was reasonablely easy today.It did not take long to get to the next shelter, Spring Mt shelter, where just about all that were there still were. When we got to Key gap, a sign informed us of trailmagic just up the road. This turned out to be the Nelson's house and former thru-hikers. Only Franklin and I went over there. Y2K along with Rock and Roll pushed on, likely to Jerry shelter. Trail magic was Belgium waffles, Pork stew and assorted deserts - all great. Although this cut an hour or two out of the day, a good free meal is worth it. So, instead of going to Jerry Shelter, Franklin and I stopped here at little Laura Shelter, one because it was 4 pm with 6.8 miles to Jerry's and there was enough sun to dry some things out. Eventually most of the group from Sring Mt showed up here, after also being detoured by the trail magic. So, whole new group to meet.