morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-03-20
From: Rich Cove

To: Beech Gap
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: broken clouds

We made it through the night at Rich Cove without any bad weather. We got off to an 8am start at 39 degrees. The temps rose to about 60 degrees during the day. We made it out of Georgia and into North Carolina at 8:55am. We hiked through clouds into and through Bly Gap to Sharp Top. At Bly Gap we saw a "mystical" tree and took some pictures of it. It looked like something in a fable.We stopped for water at Muskrat Creek, and checked the shelter register. We saw that Creaky Bonze had signed in 2 days ahead of us. We are looking for her.We crossed Chunky Gal Trail and liked the sign/name so much we took a picture of it. Cap'n RJ might get a kick out of the name! We started a steady long climb up to the top of Standing Indian Mountain. At the peak Boston called home and checked in with her parents. Sandman made his very first cell phone call ever! Welcome to the 21st century Sandman! It was a momentous occasion, so we took a picture of it.After Standing Indian, we saw signs that we were now hiking in a Bear Sanctuary. Great! On our decent of Standing Indian, Walking Home caught up to us and we ended up camping next to him at Beech Gap. The four of us had a nice fire and cooked dinner together. There were a bunch of spring breakers there also having a fire and camping trip. Boston and Cubtrax finally got to pitch their tent on level ground. There was no sliding on the tent floor tonight. Although, we thought we looked like "bear sandwiches" lying in our sleeping bag while camping in a "bear sanctuary".The same evening we realized that we were only 19 miles from Franklin, NC. We are thinking of doing 12-14 tomorrow to get us into Franklin early the following day after a short morning hike.We were in bed by 8pm and slept well regardless of the "bear sanctuary" signs.
Date: 2005-03-21
From: Beech Gap

To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: broken clouds

We were up by 6:30am and the temperature was 34 degrees. We are getting better with packing up and getting on the trail.We hiked through Coleman Gap, Carter Gap, up Ridgepole Mountain, down to Betty Creek Gap. We then hiked up Big Butt Mountain, then when we got to Bearpen Gap we were very pleasantly surprised. TRAIL MAGIC! Terry and Barry from Rainbow Springs Campground (now closed) were there to feed any and all hikers. They plan on being there for 6 weeks. They fed us rice and black bean burritos, with all the fixins. They had plenty of cold sodas, fruit and anything else a thru-hiker would need. They cooked over a metal tripod with a huge metal saw blade as the cooking surface to hold all the cook pots and fry the tortillas. All over an open wood fire. They had huge tents set up and cooked breakfast for those that spent the night. We however, stayed for an early lunch to get strength to climb Albert Mountain! Thank you Trail Magic.The climb up Albert Mountain was steep but only 3/10 of a mile long. Sandman said, "What do they think I am, a mountian goat?" Once on top, we climbed the Fire tower to the trap door, took some pictures and then moved on.We hiked through Big Spring Gap and Glassmine Gap before descending into Rock Gap. We tented at Rock Gap Shelter. We had dinner with a bunch of other hikers at the shelter. Hikers we met at the Shelter included, Vapor, Dubois, Beartracks, Senecca, Ican, Walking Home, and a few others. The guys had a fire going and after it got dark, they started playing a hand-version of hacky-sac. Only it was with a burning hot ember from the fire. They would pick it up and blow on it until it got too hot for them to hold and then pass it off for the next player to catch and bounce around in their hands while they blew on it. Only a GUY would come up with this game. It was the guys who said, "look at the stupid things guys will come up with." To which Sandman responded, "at least now I won't be the only guy in our journal doing "stupid guy" stuff.We had heard that the weather was going to turn and we would get rain and thunderstorms late evening or tomorrow morning. Nothing yet.
Date: 2005-03-22
From: Rock Gap Shelter

To: Winding Stair Gap
Miles today: 3.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Well, there was no rain last night, but it is cloudy and looks like it could rain at anytime. We got an early start to our day again, but the temperature was only 44 degrees this morning, so not too cold. We got on the trail by 7:45am. We hiked down to Rock Gap and decided to take a short side hike on the Wasilik Poplar Trail. This was a .5 mile trip to the Poplar tree. It is believed to be the 2nd or 3rd largest Poplar tree in the world. We got a picture of the three of us around the base of the tree. It would probably take ten of us with our arms out-stretched to circle the tree base. It was old and majestic. Worth the .5 down and .5 back up!We hiked slow and easy today and got into Winding Stair Gap around 10am. We took the free shuttle provided by Ronnie Haven of the Haven Budget Inn in Franklin, NC. We got a room at the Haven and took our first shower in five days! How refreshing.We went to lunch at an All You Can Eat Buffet and made every effort to get our money's worth. After stuffing ourselves, we did laundry, post office visit and then went to the Three Eagles Outfitters. Sandman replaced his horrible pack with a Gregory Z-pack. Hopefully it will work out better for him. Ronnie drove us all over town, outfitters, Wal-mart, Ingles, etc..Now it is time for dinner. Pizza and beer in the room. We will pack up our gear and get ready for tomorrow's departure. Our next food resupply will be NOC, but we will be bouncing a supply box to Fontana Dam, NC. So if anyone wants to send us some home-made goodies, feel free! The address is Fontana Dam, NC 28733. Just put our real names, c/o General Delivery and note that we are AT hikers! We are looking to be there by the 29th.Thanks Mom for sending Boston's new shoes! You're great. My achilles tendons thank you.We will update again as soon as we can. Maybe at NOC. We have some pictures on a computer disk and we will upload some when possible. Maybe Supply-Guy will do it when they arrive in the mail.
Date: 2005-03-23
From: Winding Stair Gap

To: Campsite just past Wayah Bald
Miles today: 10.5

We stayed at the Haven Bugdet Inn, got a ride into town to the Post Office with Ronnie Haven. He is a great guy and goes out of his way to help any hiker. We had one last warm breakfast before heading out. Ronnie took us to the trailhead at Winding Stair Gap, we got there at 10:30am. Boston's new shoes (achilles tendon is feeling better already) are doing really well. She put some SuperFeet in them for extra support. We stopped for a "picnic" lunch at 1pm at the Wayah Gap picnic area. We felt spoiled, they had picnic tables and it was sunny! Sandman was happy to share the tuna he had been packing for three days.Most of the afternoon was overcast and windy. Cubtrax liked the hiking today, it was mostly gradual uphill. Sandman on the otherhand, said "I don't remember today, but it was all uphill." Obviously Sandman didn't think the gradual was too gradual! Cubtrax is happy to be finally hiking with no tape or bandaids on her feet or toes. That is a first for her, including all her other previous hiking trips. Although she is still not sure that these are the shoes that are going to make it all the way to Maine.We passed Wayah Bald with a stone tower on it, there was a great view. We camped at a campsite just past Wayah Bald. Other hikers camping there were: Lion King, and Walking Home. While hiking today we saw Hot to Trot, Manuel, Flip and the "German" hiker. The German is carrying a full size guitar, wearing a trench coat, and an old style army backpack. We were told he cooks his dinners by making a tripod with three sticks and starting a fire. He hangs his pot from the tripod to cook.Whenever we talk about hiking more miles, we always resort to Sandman's motto "It's not raining." Meaning, if it is not raining, we might as well hike. We never know what the weather will be like the next day.We have started seeing small sprigs of poison ivy along the trail. Just another thing to keep in mind. Not that the bears were enough already.All in all a good day. There were some threatening skies, but no rain.Sandman got a new pack at Three Eagles Outfitter in Franklin. It is a Gregory Z pack, and he likes it. He finally has his pack weight off his shoulders.It is 7pm and we are all in bed because it is hiker midnight and cold.
Date: 2005-03-24
From: Campsite just past Wayah Bald

To: Wesser Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: clear sky

We stopped at Burningtown Gap for a snack this morning before a big uphill climb of Copper Ridge Bald. We had lunch at Tellico Gap after a long climb of Wesser Bald. We climbed up the tower at Wesser Bald. It was a nice wooden platform, you could see Fontana Dam Lake from there.From the Tower we called home to have Supply Guy send us some short sleeve shirts to Fontana Dam Post Office.This morning was 37 degrees when we started with thick clouds, with some rain in the early morning when we were still in our tents. The sun broke through at 7:15am and we left camp around 8:30am. We got into Wesser Shelter camp at 2:45pm. We decided to tent tonight since the weather was nice.Cubtrax got a nice fire going around 4pm. We met Ellen from Lexington, MA and her friend Shane from Maryland(?), Amanda and Andrew from Colorado Springs. Amanda showed up to the campfire with a bag of gooey marshmallows. When she walked up, other hikers moved from their seats like she was parting the Red Sea. They wanted her to have full access to the fire for roasting and were hoping that she was willing to share. As it turned out, she was super nice and offerred her goodies to all the hikers without anyone having to ask. She and the marshmallows were a big hit. Thanks Amanda!We stayed up late, it was almost 8:15pm when we went to bed. Goodnight.
Date: 2005-03-25
From: Wesser Bald Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC)
Miles today: 5.7
Weather: clear sky

We left Wesser Bald Shelter to hike up to Jump Off Rock Lookout and then had a tough, mostly downhill short hike into NOC. We got into NOC at 10:30am to shower and do laundry. We call this short hike day a NERO, not quite a ZERO.When we got to NOC, Lion King was already there and we couldn't believe it. We left camp before him and he never passed us on the trail. We started talking to him and discoverd he took a blue-blaze trail and sprained his ankle pretty bad and most likely hitched a ride to NOC. Lion King told us to check out a flyer on the bulletin board on the side of the Outfitter's shop.The flyer said that there was a "hiker feed" that night for all AT hikers! A 1997 AT Thru-Hiker named "Ox" was putting on the feed just for this one day. How lucky are we to have been there for this one day? Ox had rented a Cabin and shuttled everyone there for dinner. The feast was amazing! He had a whole roasted turkey, baked ham, deviled eggs, veggie dip, chips and salsa, ice cream, cake, candy, and soda. And to top it all off, he even had a hot tub out on the front porch! How awesome! There was about 20 hikers there. It was a very fun time. Thanks Ox. Ox shuttled us back to town with John Denver tunes on the CD player. It is funny how when you are out hiking, John Denver sounds good.The NOC was a neat place. It was a little village type resort with an outfitter, restaurante, schools for kayaking, mtn biking and hiking, etc. The river was running right through the middle of the resort.We resupplied at the pricey Outfitter's for food. It was a relaxing day. Cubtrax and Boston bought new hip belts at the Outfitter because they are at the smallest adjustments on their current ones. We will have SupplyGuy mail them to us when needed.We saw Amanda at the NOC and dubbed her "Marshmallow" as her trailname. We don't know if it will stick as much as the marshmallows did to our fingers.We are preparing for the big climb out of the NOC. Goodnight.
Date: 2005-03-26
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC)

To: Brown Fork Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We ate breakfast at the NOC restaurant. We started hiking at 8:30am, it was big uphills, but doing well. We got to Sassafras Gap Shelter at noon for lunch, then on up to Cheoah Bald. It was a nice view from up there. We headed to Stecoah Gap where we thought we would spend the night. Just before we got to Stecoah Gap, we hooked up with Snuffelupagus (Snuffy). Once there, we all started to look for the water source, but met a trail maintainer, Bob "Gizmo" Williams from Hayesville, NC. He was "trail magic" in himself. He took all of us to Robinsville for water and dinner. We got to sit down and eat dinner at Wendy's and then he drove us all the way back to Stecoah Gap. We couldn't have asked for better.We got back to Stecoah Gap and since we didn't have to cook dinner, we all decided to hike on. Well, Cubtrax and Snuffy did so Sandman and Boston had to follow. We hike by 2-3 campsites on the trail, but Sandman passed them up. So on to climb Sweetwater - what a climb - and then onto Brown Fork Gap Shelter. The hikers there could not believe us about the Wendy's! Actually, they didn't believe us until Snuffy pulled out his Wendy's cup and showed it to them. We know they were envious. We were there by 6:30pm, just before dark and set up our tents.We were tired so we hung up our food, journaled by the fire and went to bed.Walking Home was there and very surprised to see us due to the high miles. The hike from Stecoah to Brown Fork was Sandman's first official "muck" with Cubtrax and Boston. Our friends at home who have hiked with us before know what we are talking about when we say "muck."
Date: 2005-03-27
From: Brown Fork Gap Shelter

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: overcast clouds

HAPPY EASTER!Tough hike today. Boston's left knee was hurting, Cubtrax foot was hurting and Sandman's right knee was hurting by the end of the hike. Good thing for Advil and Aleve.It was nice to see Fontana Dam when we were so high up. This morning it rained early but stopped by 6:20am. We got up and pack our stuff up. It was overcast all day, but no rain. There were some big ups and downs into Fontana Dam. We got there by 3pm.We initially saw the bulletin board with the shuttle phone at the Marina, but decided to hike the 1.3 miles to the Visitors Center so we wouldn't have to do it later. That last 1.3 seemed longer than the previous 12. We took a shuttle from the Visitors Center to the Fontana Inn. We showered and had dinner. It was very good. We say Acronym and Jersey at the Inn and were surprised to see them. They got off at Stecoah Gap and planning to return to there tomorrow.Walking Home and Snuffy decided to stay at the Fontana "Hilton" Shelter for the night. We should see Walking Home tomorrow at the HikeInn. We are taking a ZERO tomorrow.It started to thunder and lightning at 4pm today. So we missed the rain again! Off to get a good nights sleep in a bed!
Date: 2005-03-29
From: Fontana Dam

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

We never did see Walking Home at the HikeInn.We woke up this morning to bright sunlight. We had breakfast at 6:30am, we bought breakfast food yesterday in Robinsville. Jeff shuttled us to Fontana Dam to start our hike.We started hiking at 8:15am. We are in TN now in the Smoky Mountains. We took pictures by the Smoky Mountains National park sign. We went up Shuckstack Firetower and it was really neat. We took some pictures there. Sandman decided to not climb the tower, but Cubtrax and Boston did. We hiked up to greater than 5000feet today to Devils Tater Patch. Russell Field Shelter still has bear fencing around the front of it. We cooked dinner away from shelter to prevent bears and mice from invading the shelter.We brought a few pages of a puzzlebook we found in the room at the HikeInn. We have to stay at Shelters in the Smokies. Our distances are pretty much dictated by the shelters. We cannot do any night hiking even if we wanted to due to wild boars and bears.We did a few word puzzles after dinner and then went to bed around 7:30pm. It was very dark in this shelter because there were blue tarps hanging over the bear fencing. Other hikers passed up this shelter because they thought it was like a dungeon.
Date: 2005-03-30
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Silers Bald Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: broken clouds

We woke up mouse free in the Russell Field Shelter. We really didn't expect bears, but we did expect mice. We were pleasantly surprise to hear no scampering in the night, and no poop in the boots.It was windy this morning but not cold. We all had short sleeves on and Sandman had shorts on. Temps got into the 70's but it stayed windy all day. We had lunch at Derrick's Knob, cheese, crackers, and pepperoni. Rocky Top and Thunderhead were quite the climb. It was very windy on top. We can't wait for the Clingman's Dome climb (the highest point on the AT). We did not fill our water at Derrick's Knob because there was suppose to be water at Buckeye Gap in 2 miles. When we got to Buckeye, Senator was there and he had just hiked almost 600 feet down on an overgrown sidetrail and back up without finding the water source. He headed on to Silers without water as did we with what little water we had left. It was 81 degrees in direct sunlight at Buckeye Gap. It was 2.7 miles more to the shelter. The water at the shelter was fortunately only 50ft behind the shelter.At Silers Bald Shelter we caught up with Yard Sale & Joe. They told us Walking Home was only 1.5 miles ahead of us at the next shelter. We were very surprise since he did not ZERO at the HikeInn the day we did. They said he was struggling with bone spurs in his heel. They also told us that Snuffy "got off" the trail at Fontana Dam. His knee was hurting too badly to continue. We don't know if he will get "back on" the trail or not.Silers Bald Shelter is very nice, it has been rennovated, but still has bear fencing. Another hiker, Rodeo, showed up later that day and spent the night at the shelter with us.We are planning a shorter hike for tomorrow, but we will see how we feel and what the weather is like.
Date: 2005-03-31
From: Silers Bald Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: light rain

NO MICE again! Yippie! The shelter was definately a port in the storm. It rained and blew hard all night long, so we were very glad to be in the shelter. Early morning it was still raining so we slept in a little and then we did more word puzzles as we listened to the wind and the rain on the metal roof. At 7:30am it was overcast and continued to threaten more rain. So we waited some more and finally got started at 10am. We started our hike to Clingman's Dome in the mist and clouds. At Clingmans Dome Tower Cubtrax and Boston climbed to the top and took the obligatory pictures even though it was very foggy, and blowing a heavy mist. They say you can see five states from the Tower, but we could barely see Sandman down below the tower.On the way down from Clingman's Dome (~6700ft) we saw an AT Ridgerunner, Mark "Shatter" Twinham. He said he would see us again in the Whites in May & June. We got to the trail to Mount Collins Shelter and decided to continue on to Newfound Gap because "It wasn't raining". Also, it was .5 to the shelter and .5 back to the trail. Why waste a mile to a shelter when you could put a mile on the trail and be that much closer to Newfound Gap? It was only 4 more miles to Newfound Gap anyway.The trail down from Clingmans Dome was covered with ice and snow, which changed to squishy mud and deep lakes as we decended in altitude. At Newfound Gap a nice couple from Indiana, with two young children in a minivan gave us a ride to Gatlinburg, TN. We got a hotel room and got cleaned up for some dinner, Pizza! We are finally in a county that is not "DRY", so we had a few drinks before and during dinner. Cubtrax may have had a few too many after two days of hiking with probably less than the recommended amount of water consumed. What do you think happened to Little Cubby, with little water, little food, and big alcohol? Just what you think happened happened. Sandman and Boston ended up walking arm in arm with Little Cubby to get her back to the hotel room. Little Cubs need little alcohol!
Date: 2005-04-01
From: Newfound Gap

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We are taking a ZERO day today.Thank you to everyone who is reading our journal and signing our guestbook. Special thanks to Gizmo for your email.We went to the Happy Hiker Outfitter in Gaitlinburg, TN and Sandman got a new tent to replace his "bathtub" tent. He got the MSR HUBBA tent.Everyone is doing well and we are all happy and healthy. We will be even happier when we get some ice-cream at Ben&Jerry's today!We will be hooking up with a friend of Boston's for a day and then back to the trailSandman will call "Dr." soon about joining up with us on our hike later.We will try to be better about updating, it has just been hard finding places to get internet access.Have a great day everyone, we know we will! Oh, it is raining again today and we are NOT on the trail! How lucky can we get? When will the skies open up and pay us back?
Date: 2005-04-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We took another zero day today. We stayed with Anne and Dan M. in Knoxville, TN. They cooked us a super dinner last night, grilled pork chops and salad. Things you can't get on the trail. No Lipton Sides for us!We started today off with a great breakfast prepared by Dan. It was blueberry pancakes, eggs, and hand made sausage patties cooked on the grill, yummy. Thanks Dan.We then went to a few Outfitters to check out their gear and look for some Gortex shoes for Cubtrax. No luck on the shoes. On to Walmart to burn our pictures onto a CD and do our shopping for food for the next three or four days. Got everything we needed. We then went to supply ourselves with the most essential town item - Dairy Queen! Actually, we first had lunch at Panera Bread, it was Oh So Good! Then, we went to DQ for dessert. Anne & Dan made lasagna for dinner tonight. You can't beat homemade. Also, it was good to get fresh salad and veggies.It rained all last night and today, so it was a good day to zero. It seems we missed the rain again, darn!Dan and Anne plan to drive us back to Newfound Gap tomorrow morning so we can hit the trail about 10am.