morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-03-02
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

Dawn brought a blue sky and a pleasant day. There were so many hikers climbing back into soggy clothes and soggy boots that I decided to collect my things from assorted nails and hooks and head toward Hot Springs. I stopped about an hour out and sat on my foam pad whle I made coffee and had some oat meal. it was sunny but still cool. I had chaffed my upper legs while hiking so many hours in the rain the day before and I was looking for relief. The only ointment I had was some foot cream my podiatrist had given me for calluses. No sooner had I put on the cream and started down the trail that I realized foot cream is too strong to go on parts of the body that are far more tender. I tore off my pants and got out my handiwipes and wiped off as much as I could, hoping the burning would end quickly. Just as I pulled up my pants a South Bound thru hike by the name of Combat came along. I was so glad I had my pants up when he came, but I wished I had more composure and less burning. He never would have guessed why I was standing there all flustered and embarrassed so I had to tell him what he just missed. (am I honest, naive or carefree?) He was a very nice young man and didn't laugh out loud and in fact explained that he had gone through a similar experience with Gold Bond Foot Powder. I'm always relieved to find out I'm not the only one who attends classes at the school of hard knocks on a regular basis. I pressed on toward Hot Springs with the thought of spending the next night in my own bed, a dangling carrot before me. Four of the hikers I had stayed with at Roaring Fork Passed me like I was standing still. I'm sorry I never did get all their trail names, the two I did get were Nighthawk and Music Man. I think they were all from MInnesota and Wisconsin. They passed me like I was stuck in low gear and they were running on nitro. I passed Deer Park Shelter, where they stayed, as it was getting dark. Fortunately I found the hour of hiking in the dark to Hot Springs to be quite tolerable. I could see the city down below me, most of the way, and the trail wound back and forth on easy to navigate switchbacks until I came out of the woods right at my car.
Date: 2007-03-03
From: New Found Gap

To: Tri Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: broken clouds

I left home later than I had wanted and then forgot my second water bottle and my map in the car once I arrived at New Found Gap. I hiked back for about a half mile and got the forgotten things and headed toward Tri Corner Knob. It was 10:40. I wasn't a mile from the parking lot when I ran into the first sheet of ice. This would be just a sampling of what I would come up against. Several well prepared section hikers had crampons attached to their boots but it was still slow going for them. I picked my way along using the carbide tips of my trekking poles for bite and going wide of the trail and the ice whenever possible. Ice Water Spring Shelter had huge sheets of the frozen leg breaker on both the North and South side and the only way to make progress was to walk through the woods well away from the trail. At the point where the glaze ended I made an attempt to rejoin the trail. I was coming down onto the trail from the woods above. I took off my pack and considered the idea of using a piece of rope to gently set the pack down on the trail so it didn't go carreening down the mountain side. Looking back, I wish this is what I had done, but didn't. I had a hold of a tree limb as I tried to inch my way down to the trail but I was holding onto the pack at the same time and came to the point when I had to let go of the pack or the tree. Somehow I let go of both at the same time. As I slid down the icy bank I watched my pack tumble two or three feet and then slide another two or three, stopping unscathed a yard shy of a long and terrible looking drop. I was not so lucky. As I slid the six feet from the trees to the trail my pants caught on a small stub of root and I felt the seat give way with a loud rip. I was still sliding toward my pack and gave thought to the possibility that I was going to push it over the precipice and go with it. Thankfully this did not happen and I am still here to write of these high adventures. I continued on, knowing my late start was going to force another hike in the dark. I must have been in the woods when the eclipse came and went for by the time I was back on the open Ridgeline I could see the moon's full face but nothing less. I must have hiked over an hour in the dark and at one point came to a nice flat area out of the wind where I thought I might be quite comfortable caccooned in my goosedown bag and wrapped in my tarp. It wasn't until the next day when I would discover how fortunate I was to have continued on. I arrived at Tri Corner Knob quite late. It was so late I didn't bother to take out my pocketmail composer to look at the time. (I am not carrying a watch. I have one of those heavy metal watches, it might weigh as much at the pocketmail composer). I would guess it was 8:30 or 9. I woke up the two men from Knoxvile who had been sound asleep before my arrival and I didn't want to cause any more hard feelings than I had already stirred. I hung my food on the bear cable outside and went to bed without eating dinner. I was glad I had pressed on, the shelter was solid and out of the wind.
Date: 2007-03-04
From: Tri Corner Knob Shelter

To: Davenport Gap
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: scattered clouds

I have come to believe that things at 6000 feet of elevation are different from things at 2000 or even 3000 feet of elevation. Sunday morning, I woke up to six inches of snow. Sunday morning, it was cold enough to make me reach for my polarfleece and to wear it inside my goosedown bag rated at 15 degrees. The snow continued to fall until about noon. By then I was well on my way to Cosby Knob. A breakfast of oatmeal and coffee was a great way to start a great day. The sun eventually decided to show itself and the afternoon turned out to be a wonderful time for hiking. In fact the whole day was a wonderful day for hiking. Once again I was reminded that if I had been at home I might be glad not to be out on the AT, yet being out on the AT was more than I had expected, more than I had hoped for. It seems now days, everyone wants to be living in the moment. Don't live in the past! You can't change it. Don't live in the future! It may never materialize like you want it to. Live in the moment! All I can say is that I have spent the last four days in the moment. Well, at least more in the moment than at any other time I can remember. It was wonderful to hike in the rain across Max Patch and it was wonderful to hike in the snow from Tri Corner Knob to Davenport Gap. I can't add to that or take away from it. I think I would willingly do it again. I like feeling alive. I like feeling like every breath I take is a gift. I will admit something else too: when I got in the car at the Ranger's Station at Davenport Gap. I could not drive. I wanted the car to go but I could not figure the darn thing out. I was exhausted. I was spent. I needed a day off.
Date: 2007-03-05
From: Asheville. Home

To: Asheville. Home
Miles today: 0.0

My first zero day has arrived. I sure need it. I spent an hour at the YMCA in the hot tub, steam room and in the pool swimming easy laps. I put three doses of hair conditioner in my hair as I showered wondering if I would be able to maintain my long locks without my wife demanding that I get a haircut. (she never demands, but she does have her way).My son McKinley is going to be with me for the next three days of hiking (I've already decided his trail name is "little mud". I hope he calls me "big mud". We will start at Fontana and hike to the car I left at New Found Gap. I hope we can make it in three days. I hope most of all that my son never forgets that his dad loves him enough to take him into the woods and show him where God lives just as mine showed me. I can remember as if it were yesterday... my dad waking me up at the crack of dawn in the Canadian Provincial Park called Algonquin. We were on a canoe trip with the Boy Scouts. He led me down to the side of the lake and pointed down into the clear cool water where two large trout swam side by side. "That is how fish have sex", he said. I was too young to know how humans have sex to understand or care about how fish have sex. I do know that fathers have sons and sons have sons and on it goes. I want my son to have an Appalachian Trail to hike on. I want my son to have a place where he can go where there is a hundred percent guarantee that God is going to be waiting with open hours to show him how to live in the moment.
Date: 2007-03-06
From: Fontana Dam

To: Mollie's Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: scattered clouds

My son McKinley and I started out from Fonatana at about 10:00 AM. we arrived at Mollies Ridge at about 5:30. Of the three days we hiked this was by far the clearest with the least amount of haze. We met a Ridge Runner as we walked in to Mollie's Ridge Shelter he was very kind and helpful.
Date: 2007-03-07
From: Mollie's Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: few clouds

It was a great day for hiking. I am sad to report that I had my first bit of trail crazieness today. I had just started to hike for the day and had hiked for about an hour. I was thinking intently about work and what I will do in the future, what I have done in the past etc. I stopped to take off my jacket and have a short break. How I started to hike in the same direction I had just come from I don't know. About an hour later I ran in to Woodstock ( a thru hiker) he asked me where I had started from that morning. When I replied Mollie's Ridge, he replied " that is where you are now" I said that I must be hiking in circles and he nodded. I wanted him to be wrong but alas It was me. I felt frightened, tearful and very confused all at the same time. I thought about the people who I work with who have dementia and suddenly had a very real peek at their world. I have lots of excuses. All bad. The best thing I can think of to say is that it was God's way of telling me to quit thinking about work and keep my mind on the hike.Amen
Date: 2007-03-08
From: Derrick's Knob Shelter

To: New Found Gap then home
Miles today: 18.0

My son and I got up early, skipped breakfast and got on the trail. McKinley was worried that I would make him hike in the dark if we didn't get to the car by sunset. We just made it. We climbed to the top of Clingman's Dome but there was a good bit of haze. I wish I would have been up there three and four days ago when it was so clear in the Smokies. I am back home tonight and in the morning I will drive to the Nantahala Gorge and hike from there to Fontana (30 miles).My wife is going to drive me to Springer on Sunday and I am finally going to have a taste of what a normal thru hiker feels. ( I suppose I shouldn't even hope that someone will ever call me a NORMAL thru hiker). Here is to being totally abnormal and loving what God puts in my path. My son and I had just passed Thunderhead today and he turned around and held up his hand. He motioned to the woods to our right and there stood two young deer grazing in the grass. I suppose I should say I found the deer captivating but it wasn't the deer that pleased me so much as it was watching my son and feeling the reverance he had for God's creation. We are both sore tonight, and are both glad to be home. He payed me a nice compliment by saying; " I can't believe you are going back out hiking again tomorrow." He gave me a hug and a kiss and went to bed. I don't know how I deserve to be so lucky to have a 20 year old son who will hug and kiss me and go hiking with me. I'm not complaining! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to hike the AT. I was starting to think that my dream of hiking the whole thing was a pipe dream but now here I am doing it. I feel so blessed. Thank you all who support me and people who follow their dreams. I look forward to meeting more dreamers out on the trail. goodnight.
Date: 2007-03-09
From: Nantahala

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

The driving part is almost over. It takes up a lot of time and it makes it hard for me to get out on the trail at a decent hour. I haven't really been using my pocketmailer except as a notebook. I will try to use it on my hike from Springer to Nantahala
Date: 2007-03-10
From: Brown Fork Gap Shelter

To: Fontana.
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: broken clouds

The hike over the top of the dam was the worse part of the day. I guess because I felt like I was getting vertigo and I was in a hurry to get to my car and go home. There was a little rain but I didn't even put on my rain jacket. Tomorrow I go to Springer. I am very excited.
Date: 2007-03-11
From: Springer Mountain

To: Three Forks 
Miles today: 4.1

I'm on the road again.6:00 and I'm 2 miles past Springer.How far will I go today? stover creek shelter 6:40Camp site 7:40I'm trying to type laying down. it works pretty good except i cant use the shift key since i only have one hand. the other hand is holding the pocket talker. my springer day on the app trail was pretty unevevtful.i was not too surprised when the ridge runner, volunteer, told me i was the 25th thru hiker to@ start today. I was pleased whwn he told me there was an even larger number of college students on spring break who were just out for the weekend.this would explain why there were so many hikers on the summit of springer when i arrived.
Date: 2007-03-12
From: Three Forks Campsite

To: Ramrock Mtn. Campsite
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: broken clouds

I broke camp as early as I could but with the time change it was eight before I could throw on my pack and hit the trail. I followed a stream for about an hour and when I finally noticed the sound of the rushing water had been replaced by the familiar sound of silence I had become accustomed to I found myself grateful. I could hear a crow in the distance and I could hear my legs asking if it wasn't time to rest.Stopped at Hawk Mt.for lunch. Out at noon.The day dragged on... one mountain and then another. Such is life on the Appalachian Trail. I was dreaming of hiking long distances but then nature called... I decided it was a good time to dry out my tent fly, which was still soaked with dew, and before I knew it I was eating lunch and drinking coffee. I packed and continued on and quickly realized I didn't have enough water to make it to Gooch Mtn shelter without running dry. It is a bit of a blessing to be out of water and bone dry when you know that if you press on you will come to a river. Such was the case for me, for I didn't hardly suffer at all before I came to a nicely flowing stream. I drank my fill, and filled my drinking container from the filtering pump with just enough water to get me to the next campsite and water source about a mile and a half away. When I got to the next shelter I found what looked like a Shriner's Convention. There were ten or twenty paunchy old men milling about the shelter and an assortment of various styles of tents. The tents were scattered about and filled every available flat piece of real estate. A scruffy looking gentleman who must have been at least 65 walked toward me on his way toward the bear cable as he was about to hoist up his food bag. "Are you planning on staying the night" he asked. "Is this where the homeless shelter is?" I asked at about the same time, making reference to how much the group of assorted hikers looked like rescue mission occupants.I hiked in the dark for two hours, stopping to cook dinner.I enjoyed looking at the stars and at the hundreds of light towards Dolenegha.THe temperatures were mild and the hiking was quite pleasant. I felt like Frankenstiens monster since my feet were moving so slow. The campsite I found was not exactly level and I searched through overgrown fields until I felt like I was in the Blair Witch Project. I put up my tent and went to sleep.
Date: 2007-03-13
From: Ramrock Mtn. Campsite

To: Levelland Mtn Campsite
Miles today: 13.5

got up about 730 and hiked to woody gap where there are picnic tables. im typing with one finger and eating with the other hand. im going to neals gap today. maybe ill take a shower. I lookat the clock but then forget what time it is. No one has passed me yet today. I am trying to make it to the next shelter five miles away before I take a serios break. I will have lunch there at Woods Hole Shelter. I feel good. Still trying to stay in the moment more of the time.2:30 leaving wood hole. trying to make Neels Gap.Blood Mtn Shelter 3:45Neel's Gap 5:30Spaghetti dinner 6:30
Date: 2007-03-14
From: Levelland Mountain Campsite

To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: overcast clouds

After having spaghetti at Neals Gap I hiked for a couple of miles and pitched my tent. Yes, I know I was hiking in the dark as a few kind strangers were kind enough to point out. But, I was't running with scizzors.I woke up at 7:30 and broke camp by 8. I thought it might be an easy two hours to the next shelter where I would have coffee and breakfast. It was not to be. I am stopped halfway up Wildcat Mountain after a grueling morning of ups and downs. One half mile more and I can have my coffee. The problem is that the shelter is on the other side of this mountain and the climb is almost straight up.When I got to the place where the shelter was supposed to be,on the otherside of Wildcat Mtn, I discovered the shelter was another mile dow a side trail. I just kept on goinG and finaly had coffee and breakfast on the side of the trail. I had lunch at Low gap shelter had lunch and left there at 3:30Arrived at Chattahoochee Gap MP46.1I want to get to the shelter called Blue Mtn. or beyond. Blue Mtn is MP 48.3 that means I have 2.2 miles to go. I can do it!I did it too. I had a nice night's sleep and then left there at about nine. When I got to Unicoi Gap MP50.5 the guy from Cloud 9 Hiker Hostel was there looking for customers. I was already planning on hitching in to Helen for supplies so when he offered me a free ride to Hiawassee I took it. On athe way in to Hiawassee he talked about the hot tub at the hostel enough to talk me into just going right there. I'm sitting in my tent now after two one half hour sessions in the hot tub. I'm trying to mellow out. I'm trying to take it easy and not rush. I'm trying not to worry about money. I read somewhere that a person used to be able to hike the trail for a dollar a mile, but now it has gone up to two dollars a mile. Of course I wan't to win at this dollar game and hike for 50 cents a mile. I think I'm getting a good deal here: they are doing my laundry for free, I can enjoy the hot tub as much as I wan't, they have computer, which I have used, a phone, and they will shuttle me ! in to town and back to the trail for free. All for ten dollars plus the four dolars I have already paid for breakfast. It is supposed to rain tomarrow so I might slack pack back to here, stay another night and then go on Saturday morning. They are having a big St. Patty's Day party here on Saturday, but since I am not much of a party person it is just as well for me to move on.
Date: 2007-03-16
From: unicoi gap

To: Dick's Creek Gap
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

The rain is coming down in a steady downpour, at least this is how it sounds against the roof of my tent, a foot from my head. If it were raining a little harder I'm sure I would see a river running through my tent. I have left the floor part of the tent at home to save weight and I frequently look beside my sleeping pad to see if my things, strewn about the floor of the tent, are getting wet. I'm dry but restless, unable to get from the tent to the hostel without getting soaked.Then there is the matter of hiking. I still have 83 miles to hike before I get to Nantahala, where my car is. It looks like I will have to take a zero day today and attempt my slackpack day tomorrow. Surely, it can't keep raining like this for another 24 hours. When I finally venture from my tent I discover it is only lightly drizzling. The rain sounded so loud.Everyone at the hostel assumes I I am going hiking, so, I go hiking.Fran, the hostel owner drives me to the trail head. He is from Wales and with the changing weather moving in I somehow feel the need to tell him about the Donner Party. I Leave Unicoi Gap at 9:10, arrive atIndian Grave Gap 10:50, I have a cup of coffee at Tray Shelter at 12:30 and become so chilled in the wintery air that I don't stop again and just keep hiking right through. I arrive at Dick's Creek Gap at 7:05, and call Fran. He is there in a few minutes, just as I am saying good-bye to my wife on the phone.Back at the hostel there are a dozen new arrivals. I am the only one tenting in the yard, everyone else is staying in the bunk house. The temperature continues to drop and there is word of snow on the 17th.
Date: 2007-03-17
From: Cloud 9

To: Cloud 9
Miles today: 0.0

zero day. St. Patty's Day party. I had a great time at the St. Patty's day party. They even let me sing Danny Boy after everyone was too drunk to care. I ate and ate and ate and then soaked in the hot tub just a little bit more. it was a great time and Frank and Laura are very gracious hosts.