morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-20
From: Birch Spring tent site

To: Russell Field shelter
Miles today: 7.9
Weather: light rain

The last 24 hours has been absolutely nuts. It started late last night when Sideways heard something sniffing and snorting around his tent. He woke me up and we stayed awake for a little while freaked out. Then around 2 am, after we'd both gone back to sleep, I woke up to heavy footsteps and rustling right outside my tent vestibule. I freaked out and yelled at Sideways until he woke up and we both turned our headlamps on and started making noise to scare what we assume was a bear away from our tent site. It was persistent and stayed close to my tent for what felt like a long time. I was seriously scared and felt trapped in my tent. Finally it moved enough away for me to get out of my tent. We stayed up for a while banging our poles and yelling at it as it paced around the tents in the woods. It was out of sight but we could hear it for some time. When it was finally gone I still couldn't bring myself to get in my tent; the feeling of being trapped in there was still too overwelming and fresh. So I decided to cowboy camp between our two tents and Sideways was nice enough to stay out with me. I figured if we stayed outside, we could hear an animal coming before it got too close and we could scare it off. I went back to sleep and around 6 am Sideways woke me up because, of course, it was starting to rain. We got back in our tents and ended up staying there for quite awhile trying to wait for a break in the rain. We finally got a short one around 10:30 and packed up as quickly as possible, though our tents were still wet and filthy. We spent the entire day hiking in the cold rain. The Smokies seem beautiful and in the rain and fog there is an eerie calm beauty. I do hope the weather gets better though because today was pretty miserable. We stopped at the first shelter for a long lunch break and took the hour the rain stopped to dry out our tents and get dry and warm. We planned to go a little further but we didn't make it to the next shelter until 5 pm and after and the rain was still heavy so we decided to stay. We're all sleeping in the shelter to avoid dealing with wet tents. Plus, the shelter is enclosed in a wire fence so there will be no bear visits tonight. Hopefully the snoring will be at a minimum.
Date: 2010-04-21
From: Russell Field shelter

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

Today was beautiful but brutal. I made the mistake this morning of commenting on how easy the terrain in the Smokies has been thus far and the Smokies responded by promptly kicking my ass. It was a long day with a good number of steep and long inclines but Sideways and I made good time and got to the last shelter around 6:30. We were both completely beat by the time we got here and I am hoping to get some sleep tonight. Between the snoring, mice and coyotes last night, I've now had two nights in a row with very little sleep. Indiana and Sandman wanted to hike a shorter day today so they didn't make it here tonight. We're going to hike a shorter day tomorrow so they can catch up. We decided to push today because the weather is supposed to get bad tomorrow afternoon and we wanted to climb Clingman's Dome before the storm hits. The Smokies have been stunning thus far. We finally had some views today and though the terrain was tough, everything is so beautiful. I wish I could take more pictures but it's so hard to capture what we're seeing with a camera. Looks like about 4 more days in the Smokies. From the sound of the weather report I may be glad to get out by then.
Date: 2010-04-22
From: Silers Bald Shelter

To: Mt. Collins Shelter
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: clear sky

There was a zombie in our shelter last night. I have never heard a snore like this in my life- it was incredible. The guy seriously sounded like the living dead. Today was a prime example of why I'm doing this trail. Sideways and I planned a short day so Indiana and Sandman could catch up so it was a leisurely hike. The weather was beautiful; sunny and cool. We made it up Clingman's Dome by lunch and hung out with Mountain Camel and Singshot in the sun. The dome itself was pretty overrated- it's just a huge concrete spaceship looking contraption. We went to the top, but the wind was strong and it was freezing so we took a couple of quick pictures and hiked back down. We made it to the shelter and hung out with Snack Attack trying to get a fire started. Sideways and I dragged a huge tree out of the woods to burn and we finally got a fire started before a big wave of hikers came through. Indiana and Sandman showed up later and I was super excited to catch up with them. Unfortunately it looks like we're splitting up for a few days because they have to go back into Gatlinburg to resupply tomorrow, but we made a plan to meet back up in Hot Springs next week. We hit another milestone today- 200 miles! The weather is supposed to get bad tomorrow but we can't expect only sunny days so we'll just keep hiking!
Date: 2010-04-23
From: Mt. Collins Shelter

To: Pecks Corner Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: light rain

We got an early start this morning. It was a short downhill hike to Newfound Gap and I was surprised to get there and find a ton on tourists milling around. I had no idea it was such a hot spot and it freaked me out a bit to be around so many people. Mountain Camel was there with trail magic so we ended up taking a really long break. It was extremely hard to get motivated to hike after that, but we strapped on our packs and headed up the mountain. Rain was once again predicted for today but it ended up being the most beautiful day- my favorite on the trail thus far. The Smokies are so incredible! The terrain varies widely. One minute you're hiking in dense forest and the next you're walking on a wide open vista with mountain views all around you. Sideways and I stuck together for most of the day which was good because we were able to take some great pictures at Charlie's Bunion, which was spectacular. It's a small rock cluster you can climb up and it looks like you're on top of the world. It was a great day and we made good time. The shelter was packed tonight. It looked like a meat locker with everyone's packs hanging everywhere. We packed in the shelter like sardines and of course there was a chorus of snores all night. I'm getting really tired of sleeping in shelters. Hiking all day to sleep on a hard slab of wood and trying to sleep through constant snoring is getting old. But once we're out of the Smokies, we can start camping again; just a couple more days. My body is holding up pretty well. I'm sore and tired after long days and my boot is hitting the side of my ankle which is causing it to bruise, but I can tell I'm getting stronger and I can hike longer days and still feel good at the end of the day. Sideways is still having knee problems so he may try to go to the doctor in Hot Springs to see if anything will help.
Date: 2010-04-24
From: Pecks Corner Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: overcast clouds

My first 20 mile day! It wasn't intended, but the rain started this afternoon and the shelter we were planning on staying in was packed with no room to sleep because people were worried about the weather. I waited for Sideways to see what he wanted to do and when he got there, me, Sideways, Puma and Wookie decided to push in the rain to the next shelter. We blasted down the trail and while the wind was strong and there was some rain, it wasn't too bad. We got to the shelter right before dark, ate and crashed. I feel good for having hiked 20 miles today, which is a testament to the fact that I'm getting conditioned to the trail. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow, but my spirits are high and we'll only have about a 3 mile hike to Standing Bear hostel where we have a food drop and will probably stay for the night. I HAVE to take a shower. Tomorrow will be day 7 without batihing and I am absolutely disgusting. I have never been so filthy. Every time we run into day hikers they almost always immediately know we're thru hikers and I figure it's because we smell terrible.
Date: 2010-04-25
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Standing Bear Hostel
Miles today: 3.3
Weather: light rain

We had an easy hike to Standng Bear hostel this morning and got to the hostel around 11. Driven by my own stench and the promise of a shower, I pushed my tired body up the trail. The shower was everything I anticipated- the best I've ever had. I didn't want to get out of there. This hostel is awesome. We've been able to just relax and rest. I washed my clothes by hand because they don't have a washing machine, which was a first, but I think I did an alright job. Anything smells better than how they've been smelling for the last couple of days. The owner took us to get some beer and some boys have been playing horse shoes. It's going to be hard to leave tomorrow.
Date: 2010-04-26
From: Standing Bear Hostel

To: Standing Bear Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Unanticipated zero day today. It's been raining all day, which stole all motivation to hike. I'm restless though, and bored without anything to do, but we just can't bring ourselves to get out in the rain. It looks like it might rain again tomorrow, but we'll have to get out of here regardless.
Date: 2010-04-27
From: Standing Bear Hostel

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: moderate rain

Today was the worst day on the trail thus far. The temperature dropped significantly and we hiked all day through rain, sleet, hail, snow- you name it, we walked through it. Immediately after leaving the hostel we had to climb Snowbird Mountain, which was an absolute beast. I was really dragging- I think I was dehydrated as I didn't drink any water yesterday, and the weather made it miserable. I caught up to Sideways at one point and he was so miserable he was talking about turning around and going back to the hostel, but by that time we were closer to the first shelter so I convinced him to keep going. We stopped for lunch at the first shelter and the weather broke for a few minutes but of course as soon as we started hiking again, it started raining again. We pushed all day and made it to Max Patch bald, which I'd been really excited to see for days - it's a huge meadow bald with 360 degree views. When Sideways and I got to the top the wind was really strong but the rain let up and we were able to get some views right at the end and even saw a rainbow. When we got to the shelter we started setting up our tents and again, it started raining so our tents were a bit wet. I was really nervous about getting through the night and I believe I may have had the beginning stages of hypothermia because I was shaking a lot and couldn't manipulate my hands. We made it through the night alright- Lowrider was hammocking and Wookie and Puma slept underneath the shelter. While it was a pretty terrible day, I'm proud we made it through it. Tomorrow will be better.
Date: 2010-04-28
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: clear sky

Today was hard but completely made up for how terrible yesterday was. Puma, Wookie, Sideways, Lowrider, and I pushed hard today to make it to Hot Springs. The terrain was mostly downhill aside from a couple climbs which enabled us to go faster, but really strained our bodies. Sideways turned his ankle on his way down the last mountain and Puma is having knee pain. Being in wet boots for two days has wrecked my feet. They're really raw and painful, but they should be good after being out of my boots for awhile. We were originally going to leave tomorrow and just spend one night here but this town is really cool, and with everyone's body ailments, I have a feeling we'll end up staying tomorrow. We'll still be on target to get to Damascus for Trail Days even if we take a day off since we've been upping our mileage...when we actually hike at least...
Date: 2010-04-29
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

As I expected, we decided to take a zero day here. This is the best town we've been in so far and we all had a lot of errands to complete. Low Rider, Puma, Sideways and I all rented a cottage which turned out to be a great place- I highly recommend it; it was through Springbrook Cottages. We had a fantastic day. We got everything dried out and ran all of our errands with plenty of time to relax. Peach, Bam Bam, Crazy Train, and Restless all ended up coming in town as well and we had a great time. In the evening all of us aside from Crazy Train and Restless went to the hot springs, which was really just an outside three-walled room with a hot tub in it but the water is natural fresh spring water. We brought some beer and hung out for an hour, then had dinner and another beer at a local bar. When we were walking back to the cottages we heard music and snuck into the beginning show of a river music festival that's starting tomorrow. It was a sincerely great zero day.
Date: 2010-04-30
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Rich Mountain Fire Tower
Miles today: 8.3

We didn't start hiking today until around 5 pm. Over lunch Puma convinced us, without much effort, to night hike as we were all unmotivated and it was extremely hot. It is really hard to leave town, especially a town as cool as Hot Springs. Throw in a river and a weekend music festival and it was near impossible to get motivated to throw on our heavy packs and hike up a mountain. So we messed around town and hung out by the river and headed out in the early evening. Wookie is staying in town so it was just me, Sideways, Low Rider, and Puma. We were dragging up the mountain and it wasn't helping that we could see the river and hear the music from the festival around every corner as we trudged up the mountain. Not too far into the hike we stopped and were wondering if we were nuts to hike when Puma dropped his pole off of the cliff we were standing on. We wondered if it was a sign that we should go back to town as Puma searched for his pole but we pushed ourselves to move on. It was easier to hike once we couldn't hear the music or see the river. It became dark a few hours into our hike and I hiked in the dark for the first time. I can hardly see when it's light outside so night hiking was interesting. The bugs were gone and the temperature was perfect, which was nice, but I felt a little out of control not being able to see what was coming. When we got to the top of Rich Mountain we were tired and the fire tower was open so we decided to sleep up at the top, which turned out to be awesme. Right when we were getting settled the moon began to rise and it was bright red. We ate and watched the harvest moon rise, which was beautiful. Then we all just cowboy camped under the covered area on top of the tower. It was extremely windy and a bit cold but so much fun.
Date: 2010-05-01
From: Rich Mountain Fire Tower

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Today felt very long. I felt good when I started hiking this morning, but it became hot pretty early, which made me tired and a bit sluggish. I hiked by myself today and took my time. I stopped for lunch at Allen Gap and stayed for awhile laying on my sleep pad in the sun. I was debating what to do about water as I was getting low and the only water source before the next shelter, which was 5 miles away, was sketchy, when Mountain Camel's wife showed up with a huge case of bottled water. I took two, filled up my water bottle and snagged a couple each for Low Rider and Sideways who were behind me. When they met up with me they were both dragging a bit and we agreed to just hike to the next shelter instead of hiking the 18 mile day we'd originally planned. I started off first and a couple of miles into the last stretch before the shelter I came upon a sign advertising a store selling ice cream, coffee, food and cold drinks .6 miles off the trail. I sat and waited for Low Rider and Sideways to see if they wanted to go, as we now had time and I was craving something to drink beside water. It didn't take much convincing to get them to agree to walk down there. I got an orange and an orange soda and we all sat on the porch of the store by a creek for an hour and a half or so. Sideways broke it to me that he's thinking about getting off of the trail for awhile to try to let his knee and ankle heal. I'm hoping he was just having a bad day and will consider at least getting to Damascus for Trail Days because he could see a doctor there, but I don't want to push him and make his injury worse. We'll see what happens but I really don't want him to get off of the trail. The three of us are camping at the shelter tonight. We've heard that storms are expected over the next few days and by the sound of the wind as I lay in my tent, I expect the rain to start tonight. Hopefully I'll stay dry though I'm not looking forward to striking camp in the rain in the morning- it is not fun at all.
Date: 2010-05-02
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: campsite after Rector Laurel Rd.
Miles today: 16.7

We hit 300 miles today! The last 100 miles seemed to go a lot faster than the second hundred. There isn't too much to say about today- just a day of hiking. The rain held off which was nice and the terrain was fairly easy after an early morning climb to 4450 ft. After the climb the trail became an obstacle course on the ridgeline of the white cliffs. There were times I had no idea whether I was actually on the trail or not as the trail became a boulder field and there were few blazes to mark the trail. The rest of the day was pretty easy, albiet hot. I hiked by myself until I got to Flint Mountain shelter where I waited for Sideways to decide how far we were moving on. We originally planned to hike a 20 mile day but by the time I got to the shelter, I was beat and hoped we could cut the day a little shorter. A section hiker at the shelter had a note for me, Sideways and Low Rider from the rest of the crew we've been running with (who have named themselves the Goonies) indicating they'd gone just another mile and a half to a campsite. So when Sideways got there we decided to just hike to the campsite and hang out with everyone else. Well, they must have bee playing some kind of joke on us or something because the three of us (Low Rider met up with us down the trail a bit) hiked over 3 more miles and never saw them. At the campsite we thought they were going to be camping someone had spelled out "keep going" in sticks. We finally gave up right before the trail started back uphill. So we're all camping at a pretty sketchy campsite off the side of the trail and my tent is jammed in between some trees, but we made it work. Looks like we have two and a half days until Erwin where we'll resupply but not take a day off, and we're still on track to make it to Damascus for trail days.
Date: 2010-05-03
From: campsite after Rector Laurel Rd.

To: low gap campsite
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

I was dragging a bit today, and the 11 miles we hiked felt like much more. I was just having one of those days. My shoulder was really bothering me in the morning and the day was dreary, which put me in probaly the worst mood I've been in since I started. I took a long lunch with Sideways and Low Rider at Hogback Mountain shelter and decided to have a better afternoon and turn the day around. I felt better during the second half of the day but I was ready to stop hiking when we got to the campsite. Of course as soon as we got there it started raining, and Sideways and I had to set up quickly when the rain broke for a few minutes. We ended up with a fun group at the site- Ripple, Crazy Train, Restless, Low Rider, Sideways and I all camped together and luckily the rain held off for the rest of the night. No matter how bad I feel out here, your mood can change in an instant when you get to camp and take your boots off to spend time with good people. And it always beats sitting at a desk.
Date: 2010-05-04
From: low gap campsite

To: No Business Knob shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: clear sky

I started the day feeling abslutely great, which apparently for me can be a curse. I flew up Big Bald first thing this morning, which was gorgeous. I probably should have hung out there longer, but I was feeling like a machine today so I kept hiking. I hiked all day by myself and had lunch on top of the High Rocks. By the time I got to Spivey Gap I started feeling some pain in my ankle/shin and thought I was getting a shin splint so I took a long break and soaked my feet in the creek. I only had about 5 miles left until the shelter, but once I started walking I started having intense pain in my left ankle. So I hobbled to the shelter and set up my tent. Sideways, Crazy Train, Restless, Low Rider, and Ripple all showed up around dark and Crazy Train made a great fire. An older man made the mistake of setting up his tent close to the fire ring and soon realized his mistake once Crazy Train in his usual fashion started sawing logs and he quickly moved his tent away from us. We can be loud... I hope my ankle isn't hurt too bad. I just have to get to Erwin tomorrow, and then we're going to take one last zero day before Trail Days to heal- Sideways is still having a lot of ankle pain.
Date: 2010-05-05
From: No Business Knob shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: clear sky

My ankle was still bothering me today so I was not looking forward to the hike into Erwin. But soon after I started hiking, Crafty caught up with me and hiked the whole way to the hostel with me which was so nice. We talked the whole way which took my mind off of my ankle, and we made it to Uncle Johnny's hostel by early afternoon. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and went into town for dinner at a mexican place in honor of Cinco de Mayo. We ran back into Puma, Peach and Bam Bam so most of the Goonies are all back together. Beers and lounging are on the agenda for the night; chores can wait until tomorrow.
Date: 2010-05-06
From: Erwin, TN

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It was a beautiful day off. It was warm but breezy so after laundry, lunch and resupply, we all spent the afternoon lounging in the shade on the lawn at the hostel. It was a truly restful day and hopefully my ankle will be ready for hiking tomorrow. Hopefully Sideways will be good to go as well. Oh- I ended up shaving my head last night. My hair is about a half an inch long. It was getting long and I didn't know how to get a haircut out here so when Sideways bought a pair of clippers at the Dollar Genera to cut his hair, I and about 7 other people took advantage. Puma ended up giving Sideways and a bunch of other guys mohawks. It was hilarious- there was a line out the mens bathroom door for mohawks. It feels great though I feel a little less like a lady; as if I needed anything else to make me feel less like a girl. Oh well- it's hot out.