morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-02-04
From: Groundhog creek shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: broken clouds

I done my biggest day to date today and after hiking the 26.2 miles to get here I did not feel to bad.The weather was perfect and most of the snow is dissapearing....ye ha !!! It was mostly flat and down hill and I really enjoyed todays walking.I am staying the night at Elmers place here in Hot springs , the house is very big and he tells me its been here from before the civil war and has a lot of history to it.I have my own room and its very big , at $15 a night its by far the best place I have stayed.I will spend a few days here and rest up some before moving on , although know my luck the weather will be really good until the day I leave.
Date: 2003-02-06
From: Elmers suunybank retreat

To: elmers sunny bank retreat
Miles today: 0.0

Lazy day again , Elmer is a laid back host and if I had more time I could stay aound here for a while.I done some work on the upstairs bathroom sealing the grout.Another hiker called Wrong way is staying here to because he has injured his toe it looks pretty nasty.He was heading to Damascus but it looks doubtful he will be going anywhere for a while.He was hiking with the other 2 in front of me in the smokies.Heading out tommorow.....shame because this bed is so comfy
Date: 2003-02-07
From: elmers sunny bank retreat

To: Spring mountain shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It snowed all last night and I hung around town until 1200hrs before setting off , As soon as I started climbing out of town up the mountain snow appeared.JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THE SNOW WAS GOING.There is about 5 inches on the ground and the temp is 5* at the moment.So tommorow I have nothing much to look forward to except breaking the trail of all the snow , its just started snowing as I got into my sleeping bag all I have to comfort me is the Tablet that my mum sent me in my Mail drop that I picked up from the P.O in hot springs.It tastes goooooooooood.It takes me back to my younger years (which is not so long ago )
Date: 2003-02-08
From: Spring mountain shelter

To: Jerry cabin shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: clear sky

I got some good miles in today considering the depth of the snow (6-8inches) Wingfoot says in his book about there being a light and phone in this shelter and I was fooled hook line and sinker , I got here expecting to make a few calls and be well light up but it was all a joke.I am sharing the shelter with some hikers from TN who are out for the weekend , It was good to have some company and share a few laughs.Plus the fact that one guy had a bottle of Isle of Jura malt whiskey which he shared.I honestly hope the snow breaks soon , its been nearly 4 weeks walking in it.The temp is 8* degrees tonight.
Date: 2003-02-09
From: Jerry cabin shelter

To: Hogback ridge shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: clear sky

Snow !! Snow !! Snow !! and its getting deeper since its started snowing again tonight.And the forcast is for the same for the next 3 days.I have eat all my food because of the extra energy used in the snow so I will have to get of the trail tommorow and get to a store for some more.Its only 2.4 miles to the road in the morning and then I can hopfully hich to get some and back quickly.Its to cold to write anymore.
Date: 2003-02-10
From: Hogback ridge shelter

To: Bald mountain shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: snow

////////////////NEWSFLASH///////////////////Scotsman wondering the mountains in North carolina in worst winter weather in 12 years in search of scotch/American haggis herdsToday was a very eventful day with highs and low points.I got up early this morning so I could hike to the road and hitch in for some food.It was snowing pretty heavy and as I was coming out of the clouds down the mountain side I seen a news cameraman and reporter standing next to Sams gap (road) and they spotted me and started filming me as I came down the mountain.I got over to where they were and I inquired to what they were filming and where was the nearest store.The reporter introduced himself to me and started taking down my name and address , he told me they were filming the gap because it had just re-opened due to bad weather.He ask what was I doing out in this weather in the mountains and I explained to him what I am doing.He imediately asked if I could do an interview for them and informed me I would be on the local news channel at lunch time and dinner time.As I strted to sort my hat and straighten my jacket I said of course.........so I got my 5 mins of fame on T.VThey dropped me off at a cafe 3 miles doen the road where I got a fry up and then I hiched to the store and back to the trail all in the space of 1 and half hours.PERFECT !!!! And then I started to climb up Big bald mountain and the weather was as foul as I have ever been in , the snow was non stop and the wind was making it whiteout conditions much of the way.The top was the worst and the trail was very badly blazed on top.It has been the worst weather I have ever been in on the mountains ever.Its over 1ft deep all the way up and drifts of 2 ft.Its frezzing also maybe about 0* degrees ( -18 c )I need to get out of here tommorow I am praying for good weather
Date: 2003-02-11
From: Bald mountain shelter

To: Nolichucky river
Miles today: 16.8

I made it down in on piece and the weather was amazingly good , the skies were blue but still cold.The snow was very deep until I got near to the bottom, it was ver slow going.I made some very good milage because when I reached spivey gap the going was very easy from there onwards.I am in the town of erwin to resupply and I am staying at Miss janets hostel where I was suprised to find Bono and Rocket the guys heels I have been at since I started.They came off the trail at devils fork when the storm come in and have been here since.They are both very friendly and we all sat down and eat together at Miss janets and her food was great just like he is a host.I am looking forward to a good warm sleep.
Date: 2003-02-12
From: Nolichucky river

To: Miss Janets Erwin
Miles today: 0.0

I got a long lie and then came to the library with bono and rocket and they helped me to get this whole journal up and running.I just started it today and I will spend the next few days getting it copied from my journal.We went to Johnson city tonight and got some materials for doing some renovations and all you can eat pizza for $3.75 what a deal eh ??? I got an email from Logan , one of the guy I met in the smokies to say he had sent a mail drop of goddies for me to DAMASCUS which was a really nice gesture thanx very much I look forward to opening it.
Date: 2003-02-14
From: Miss janets

To: Miss janets
Miles today: 0.0

Most definetly did not plan to stay this long but I have enjoyed the rest and the company , I am going to finish the painting tonight and then I am heading out tommorow and I am going to hike with bono and rocket for a while , we all have been having a good laugh.So back to the woods and mountains tommorow I hope there is no SNOW !!!!!!!!!!!although there is a winter weather advisory for sat night for an ice storm through to monday or tuesday.Next stop will be DAMASCUS. Thinking of you Heather.
Date: 2003-02-15
From: Miss janets

To: curly maple shelter
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: light rain

I eventualy managed to get back on to the trail at a later time of 1700hrs , It feels so good to be back on the trail and away from town again.Its strange because after on the trail for 5 days or so you start to crave for things in town like the internet to keep in touch with friends and family , food , a hot shower , phone and then after actually getting to town after being there a short while I just want out and away from the hassles and back to my own paradise in the Mountains.I hiked with Bono and Rocket to the shelter tonight , well the first mile to the shelter then they got lost somewhere in the dust cloud behind me.I arrived at the shelter at nearly 1900hrs and found it to be full but after they learned we were thu-hiking they were very kind and shifted into tents they had with them and gave us a space , which was nice considering it was pissing down !! One guys name was Doc Mcoy a 2 time thru-hiker 20 years ago who was a very funny guy.So it was good to talk and then get some sleep for tommorows adventure.
Date: 2003-02-16
From: curly maple shelter

To: Clyde smith shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: snow

We got some good miles done today 20.9 considering the ups and down which we encountered along the way.We stopped for lunch at the first shelter only to find some trail angels had left us some tinned chicken so I instantly dived into my rucksack for my tortillas , onion and chesse and made some lovely Quesidillas ( correct spelling or not ) OHHHHHHHHHHHH for a moment I felt although I was lying on the beach in mexico eating the best and drinking a cold Corona and then I looked up and seen some rain clouds moving in the direction of the ridge we were following !!!! O.K I have to have some dreamsI am carrying food that seems out of the ordinary to other thru-hikers fresh Eggs , chesse , milk , bread , bacon , steak and sausages.But I reckon you are what you eat !!!! or is it you are the .......forget itMy ankle is giving me problems again due to all the slush and ice build up on my boots , I hope it clears up.
Date: 2003-02-17
From: curly maple shelter

To: over mountain shelter
Miles today: 20.9
Weather: overcast clouds

0530hrs was the wake up call I cried REVI TOI only to be ignored since the other 2 had some sense and were still in thier sleeping bags when I left the shelter and I soon wished I was in my sleeping bag also when I started the climb up Roan mountain.I was much harder than I thought and tokk me much longer also !! I have the excuse that I took 2 tylnol PM pain killers the night befoer and I am sure I was still a bit drowsey , I don't think I will bother with them again because the make me feel drained of energy.There was quite a lot of snow and ice on the way up and this was oviously signs of what was ahead in the Roan's.Rocket caught up with me as I was talking with the only person I seen all day a cross country skier near the summit , did I wish I could trade places with him for a few hours or what ?? just until the bottom.So we started to hike with each other and stopped at the next shelter at around 1230 hrs for lunch and then carried on down the mountain towards the bottom only to ascend again after the road onto the balds.The snow was old snow but still very deep some of the deepest I have came across in fact.My boots were still wet from yesterday and would have been frozen solid had I not slept with them in my sleeping bag !! I still had to de-frost them a little over my stove.Visibilty was around no more than 100 ft all day and once we got onto the balds we got lost for about 4 hours and instead of back tracking when we realised we had went wrong we decided to use rockets GPS to find our way to the shelter.Was that a mistake or what !!! we were .....sorry I was waist deep in snow (rocket had snow shoes) going round in what it felt like circles in the deeeeeeeeep snow and frezzzzzzzzing cold looking to get to the shelter.Just before we were about to give up and get the tarp out for the night and start agian tommorow we found the trail but the GPS was way off , I never did trust those things I think your senses work better ..... so what a relief !!!!!!!!!!!.So all in all it was a very testing day and another late entrance to the shelter
Date: 2003-02-18
From: Over mountain shelter

To: Braemar
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: broken clouds

The shelter we stayed in last night was very unique in the fact it was an old farmers barn coloured red , its pretty smart.Although I have one word of advice don't sleep at the top right hand corner because if you do and it starts snowing you will wake up covered like we did.I origanly woke up at 0400hrs and had my coffee and oats then it was so cold I went back to sleep until 0830hrs !!!!!! I hate getting up late like that.The clouds were rolling in and out all day as we walked but as we got to the top of the little hump mountain (5400 ft ) it cleared and the views were amazing , for some strange reason I decieded to run up the last 1/3 mile to the top and I was buzzing when I reached the top and out of breath but feeling on top of the world.I am feeling much stronger than when I first started and am starting to return to the fitness level I was at 1 year ago.The views were amazing today and it makes it all worth it.We decended to apple house shelter and found a massive bag of ramen and took 2 each and then hiked to the road to hitch into Hampton to go to a hostel for the night to dry our boots and sleeping bags since they were soaked through.The hostel is called the Braemar castle and was built by an early Scottish immigrants and named after the town in Braemar scotland because it had the same surroundings.It does have some similar terrian apart from all the trees on the mountains.
Date: 2003-02-19
From: Braemar

To: Dennis cove rd
Miles today: 19.6

Today was a dead start , I got up early at around 0530hrs but by the time I made my breakfast and cleaned all my dishes and sorted all my gear ( oh plus I made some cookies in the oven which I eat before I even went out the front door) it was 0830hrs by the time we got going and then I phoned my mum before going to the road for a hitch back to where we came of the trail.We waited and waited and waited for a ride then eventualy a very snazy car with a very attractive young lady driving it stopped and took us to the trailhead (it must have been my afro hairdo that done it) So we were off and hiking and it was 1030hrs .......boy was it a looooooong day , the trail was up down up down and switchback after switchback.Much more difficult than first thought , anyway we got to dennis cove road in the end and we reached Kincora hostel which is owned and run by Bob Peoples.Walking up to the door my heart was filled with joy when I seen a flag pole with the Scotland flag flying and the Irish one beneath it.He is of true Scotch-irish blood and a true Gentleman.He was at the house to greet us and show us around then we spent the rest of the night chatting with him , bono was here also when we arrived.
Date: 2003-02-20
From: Dennis cove road

To: kincora hostel
Miles today: 0.0

I had a looooooong lie today after pigging out on pizza , chesse cake and then bob took us to the store for some supplies.He is King of the trail ,I don't think anyone does more for the hikers on the trail then bob does.Bob was in Scotland a few years ago and visited my home town so we had plenty to talk about on top of the trail and he got replacement Scotland & Ireland flags for his xmas and I had the honour of lowering and hoisting up the new ones.He gave me away the old one so if you are approaching a shelter and you see the Scotland flag flying you will know that I am there as it will be flying every night all the way to maine.Later I played rocket and bono at trivial pursuits and kicked thier assSCOTLAND 1   U.S.A   0
Date: 2003-02-21
From: Dennis cove road

To: Kincora hostel
Miles today: 8.9

Today I had another looooooooooooong lie......oh give me a break I deserve it !!! then I arranged all my food and put it in Boxes for mail drops.I am going to try this system and see how it works , maybe it will work out cheaper and save me going into towns by picking them up at places near the trail.It cost me $18 to send them.After the post office bob dropped us off at US321 and we slackpacked back to his hostel ,I ran the whole 9.1 miles up and over the mountain and made a time of 1:52mins which I was happy with for the moment but I must improve my cardiovascular more.It was nothing more than a personal challenge and bono and rocket walked.The rest of the evening was spent talking with bob and the guys.
Date: 2003-02-22
To: Vanderventer shelter
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: light rain

Since I ran a section of the trail yesterday my trail name has been changed from the bonnie scotsman to the Flying Scotsman , So this should be the final trail name re-shuffle.Its 0030hrs and we have just arrived at vandeventer shelter after doing a spot of night hiking to get here in the rain and fog.We got dropped off at the trailhead (US321) at around 1830 hrs by Pat and on the way we tuned into NOAA the weather radio and it was calling for a severe thunderstorm with 60 mph winds coming our way , we could actually see it from the car window as we were travelling along coming in our direction.We decided to still hike and we thought if we could make it to the first shelter we could let it ride and then carry on.So thats exactly what we done and we spent the hour talking with a Father and his 2 son who were out for the weekend.Bono , Rocket and I thought that the storm was gone so we hiked on to here but we got caught up in the 2nd one and recived a good soaking so we could go to sleep wet.The Travis tune , "why does it all rain me" was running through my head all the way to the shelter.
Date: 2003-02-23
From: Vanderventer shelter

To: Abingdon gap shelter
Miles today: 23.3
Weather: overcast clouds

During the day yesterday the temp was in the 60*s and it was a warm day and it was a good feeling to think that spring was on the way and things might start to get easier and then I crash right back down to earth when I woke up at around 0300hrs with the snow blasting into my face and all over the Shelter.The temp was 20*f (-5c) and the last thing I felt like doing was getting up and putting all my gear away and setting up a tarp ,so I rolled over and went back to sleep dreading getting up.THERE SEEMS NO END TO THIS MADNESS.I eventually got up just before 0900hrs and looked in astonishment at how the snow was everywhere AHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!! I put on my gore-tex gloves and set about brushing the snow from my sleeeping bag , rucksack , jacket and my stove so I could get a cup of coffee and some oats.After I fed and watered myself I was putting my stove away when it broke , what a start to the day all I could hope for is that the Outfitter in Damascus could phone MSR and hopefully replace it for me there and then.I left the shelter before Bono and Rocket because they were still getting themselves organised , the cold was cutting right through me as I set off and there was about 2" of fresh snow on the ground.I stopped for lunch at the first shelter for 1 and half hours and Rocket caughtup with me and we hiked the rest of the day together marking a map for Bob peoples of all the blow downs on the trail.We got here late at 2000hrs and set up tarps around the shelter so we did not have a replay of last night.My legs are tierd after our miles today.
Date: 2003-02-24
From: Abingdon gap shelter

To: Damascus
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

The hike in here to Damascus was a easy one a gradual down hill trail the whole 10 miles.It felt good to arrive here because for the first time I actually feel as if I am getting somewhere although when I look at the map it still looks like I have done diddly squat(Nothing).They tell me that 50% of the people who reach this far make to the end but this means nothing to me because I will be in Maine for sure , I have no doubts.The post office was opened when I arrived in town just before 10.00hrs and I recived a Mail drop from somebody I had met in the Smokies last month.So I felt really lucky recieving a package from someone whom I only talked with for a morning , but that seemed to be enough for them to want to support me on my adventure.So Logan I must thank you so very much for the box that you have sent me , I had never heard or tried chocolate covered pretzels before but once I tried them I had to hold myself back from finishing them off in one go because they taste so yummy.And the gaitors you sent will come in handy for sure , I have hiked 451 miles without them and that was most definetly something I was needing,in fact I noticed the button was broken on the bottom of one of the gaitors so I took it over to the outfitters and asked them about the life time gauruntee and they instantly replaced them with a shiny new pair !!!!!! magic .....So again thanks a million and I look forward to giving you some trail magic when you go for your southbound thru-hike.I went to the mt rodgers outfitters with my stove and they done a great job in giving me a replacement dragon fly stove , the called MSR and they authorised the replacement.Good job dave !!!!!!! cheersWhen in the outfitters I had the chance of meeting a southbounder from Israel who had taken 8 months to get this far , I spent the rest of the day and evening talking with him and we had a right good laugh.He was amusing us with his stories of staying in his hammock for 44 hours straight without climbing out of it and his 19 days in the partnership shelter waiting for better weather in fact he thought about waiting there until the summer came but eventually got bored and headed for here.What a character !!!!! He is planning on the PCT after this trail and then onto the CDT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It would be good fun to hike with him I bet he is a good guy....crazy but good.Our old friend O-man was in town waiting for us to appear and will catch us at the next stop too no doubt via the yellow blazes. So we are leaving town tommorow afternoon and out next stop will be peariburg for laundry , internet ect which is 160 odd miles away.I was glad to see the weather report of snow for the next 3 days !!!! no joke its non stop.
Date: 2003-02-24
From: Damascus

To: safety
Miles today: 0.0

Just leaving the holy town of Damascus after an overnight Pilgrimage where time was spent with One of the chosen ones from Israel !!!! ( I am pinching your patter uncle bren ) Since I am now blessed the time has come to leave , its 1630 hrs and rocket and I are going to try and hike the 9 miles to the shelter.Its snowing outside at the moment as normal and it is going to continue for the next 3 days so here we go into the Misery Zone once again!!!!! oops I mean happy zone
Date: 2003-02-25
From: Damascus

To: saunders shelter
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: light snow

We got up late today at 0900hrs and by the time I done my washing and organised my pack it was well into the afternoon.It started to snow at around 1200hrs and we stalled leaving town hoping it would halt.....but did it...NO..suprise suprise !!! so at 1630 hrs 2 daft hikers (us) were spotted leaving town in a snow storm heading for the mountains with the snow coming down harder than it had all day , but hey if we sit around and wait for the good weather we will never get to Maine !! anyway the weather always seems to get shitty just when we head out of town....but always good when we are in town.The snow was not lying to much on the roads but once we go up on to the ridge there was about 3"-5" on the ground.We got to the shelter at 2000hrs and after seaching 30 mins for water slipping about in the snow we gave up and filled up to trash bags with snow and lay in our sleeping bags scooping the snow in to our pots burning on the stove.We both put our boots into our bags so they wouldn't freeze and both had a laugh about how good its going to be tommorow tramping about in the snow !!! once again..........But still I am still lovin the true back country winter wilderness experience USA style >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>