morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-04-24
From: campsite by a stream

To: Walnut Mt shelter
Miles today: 20.6

We woke early again and were started hiking by 0730. We had a very peaceful sleep last listening to the nearby steam babbling all night.   We had a 2600 foot elevation climb over 5 miles first thing this morning.   We reached the top in just under 2 1/2 hours. We were taking a break when another hiker came by. We got to talking and he mentioned he has heard that the there was going to be trail magic up ahead at Brown Gap which was about 5 miles ahead. That got us motivated and before we new it we were coming up on the gap and sure enough there was trail.magic and it was fantastic.   The local hiking club was putting it on and they had just about everything; hamburgers, hotdogs, fresh fruit, sodas, chips ,cookies and more. We spent about an hour there eating, talking and resting.   We finally said our good byes and our thanks and we were hiking again The climb out of the gap was brutal. I'm not sure if it was really tough or we were just over weight from all the food we had eaten. Our next break was at 1730 at Max Patch Bald. This was at the peak of a mountain bot it was all grassy. No tress around so we had wonderful 360 degree views   of the surrounding mountains. After a nice break the we were trying to decide how far we wanted to go for the day. They were calling for rain tomorrow morning and then most of the day and Sunday.   We decided to do a long day and try to make it in to Hot Springs tomorrow and get a room for the night. We continued hiking past the next shelter and finally arrived at the second shelter, Walnut Mt. Shelter at 1830. We had hiked 20.6 miles today which was our first 20+ mile day. We were very tired. We sat by the fire that some of hikers had going and ate our dinner. Soon we were in our tent were enjoying some much needed rest.
Date: 2015-04-25
From: Walnut Mt shelter

To: Tanya Rd Gap
Miles today: 19.0
Weather: clear sky

We awoke this morning to the sound of rainNot something a hiker wants to hear. We laid there for quite some time not wanting to get up. Around 0615 we heard the rain slow so we decided to get up. We quickly had everything packed up and it was still just sprinkling. A poptart for breakfast and we were good to go. We had 13 miles to get to Hot Springs. The rain gear stayed on for the first 4 hours of hiking but then the rain finally stopped and we took a break and took off the rain gear. We were making really good time wanting to get into Hot Springs before anymore rain atarted.   We arrived in Hot Springs around 1300. We checked a few places for vacancies but everything was booked up. We went to the Iron Horse Cafe and had lunch. While we were eating we charged up our phone which was almost dead. We went to the Dollar General and resupply ed our food and we also stopped by the local outfitter and picked up a few things we needed Since it still wasn't raining we decided to leave Hot springs but not before we had an ice cream cone. We hiked another 5.8 miles and stopped for the night nearby the US 70 overpass.   It was 1830 and again we were exhausted.   We have done over 53 miles of hiking the last 3 days. I think tomorrow we are going to slow down a bit.
Date: 2015-04-26
From: Tanya Rd Gap

To: Firescald
Miles today: 18.6

We were awoken around 2 am to the sound of thunder. We had quite a light show with the storm getting closer and closer. We were counting the time between the flash of lightning and the crack of thunder. It rained for.quite some time and very hard at times. I'm happy to report that we had no leaks in the tent.   We woke early this morning around 0600 and when we didnt hear any rain we got up right away. We started hiking at 0700. Our hiking today started off with a 1500 elevation climb over just 3 miles. Part way through the climb we took a break and made some oatmeal for breakfast. We arrive at the first shelter of the day and met the hiking vikings. They are a father and his 2 sons who are thru hiking. We had a nice conversation and then we continued on.   Soon after it started to rain so on went the rain gear.   We did a long descent into Allen gap where we stopped for lunch since there was a break in the rain. While eating lunch we were joined by Prefontaine whom we had met a few days back. We all started hiking together but he soon outpaced us sin e he is about half our age. We had to do a 2500 foot elevation climb over 5 miles. Do you get the picture that all we do is climb and descend?   I don't think there is any flat any reason of trail.   We made it to the next shelter at 1515. We filtered water at the spring and then decided to go on a few more miles. We had already hiked about 15 mies for the day. We were looking for a meadow to camp in but we somehow missed it and the next thing we knew it was pouring rain and we were hiking along the ridge line. Or should I say rock climbing.   The trail was nothing but rocks and in some places we had to put down our hiking poles and use our hands to climb up and over the rocks.   By this time we were soaked, cold, tired and hungry but we just couldn't find anywhere to camp. We. Continued on for another hour and finally found a spot to put up our tent in the pouring rain. We quickly made dinner and then got ready for bed. We hiked 18.6 miles today. So much for taking it easy today. We are praying that it doesn't rain tomorrow!
Date: 2015-04-27
From: Firescald

To: Rice Gap
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: broken clouds

We woke to no sound of rain. However, it was still VERY damp. It was also cold. This made it extremely hard to get out of our sleeping bags. Of course our clothes were still wet. We wonder if we could just stay in our sleeping bags all day. Of course not, the trail calls. We packed up as much of our gear as possible before putting on our wet clothes. We couldn't avoid it any longer, on went wet cold clothes. We packed up the wet tent and headed out. The weather looked like it could clear. Thankfully, the sun came out. Within about 2 hours of hiking our clothes were dry -or we were hiking too hard to notice they were still wet. We hiked up a high mountain in that two hours. We found for the first time in 4 days we had cell coverage. We uploaded our last few journal entries and then continued hiking. We stopped and hung the wet tent off of Count's backpack and the other wet items off of Lavender's backpack. We were a site to see, but, we wanted a dry tent and other items tonight. We continued hiking with a 1700 foot elevation climb over 3 miles. Our calves were screaming with pain, we were huffing and puffing, but we continued on. Next came a downward part of the trail. Now, our toes are hurting as they push to the front of our boots. But, again, we continue on. What else is there to do? We passed an elderly gentleman that is 75. He hikes the trail every week. We chatted with him a bit. Then we continued on. We climbed a bit and stopped for lunch. We set the tent up and hung everything else up on branches. We looked like hobos.    We took a long lunch to take advantage of the sun. We met to young girls, Queen Bee and BB at lunch. The rest of the day, we would leap frogged with them the rest of the day. We packed up our stuff and headed up the trail. We saw the elderly man again as he was getting into his car. Oh, it would be nice to get in a car and go to a nice warm home. But, not for us today. We continued on. We did pass a beautiful waterfall cascade during our afternoon hike of 1600 foot elevation climb in 3 1/2 miles. The wild flowers are blooming and we saw new varieties today. We were also treated to a beautiful view of a bridge off of (we think) I26. We passed a memorial for the Moye family who dedicated a large tract of land to the Appalachian Trail. Check out our photos to read the inscription. Next was a down trail run as we declined the elevation we had just climbed. We were so tired and ready to hike on a level trail. But, that is not to be on the AT. We found a level spot for our tent and called it a day of hiking at 5:30. As we were setting up camp, Queen Bee and BB passed by. They decided to camp at the same spot. We had a small fire tonight and socialized a bit. Then, we crawled into our tent as it is going to be a cold one tonight.
Date: 2015-04-28
From: Rice Gap

To: Devil's Creek Gap 
Miles today: 19.3

It turned out to be a cold night for sure. It was in the low thirties and there was a heavy frost. Both Lavender and I slept with our hats on to try and stay warm. We awoke around 0630 and we were on the trail by 0700 which was really fast for us.   We had a 700 foot elevation climb to start with over the first few miles and then the trail was up 200 or so feet over a hill and then right back down. Sometimes those smaller hills are harder than the big mountains because there are no switchbacks, it is just straight up and straight down. We had stopped to filter water when another 2 hikers came by, Firefly and Moonbeam.   They are 2 young ladies from Kansas City. We had a nice break talking with them. The rest of the day we kept bumping into them, either they would pass us when we were taking a break or we would pass then when they were taking a break. We descended into Sam's Gap where the trail passed under I26 and where our guide book said there wete trash cans by a parking area. We were so looking forward to getting rid of our trash. You get tired of carrying around all your trash after 7 days. You can imagine our disappointment when we found no trash cans! I guess we'll have to haul it around a few more days. We had another big climb before we stopped for lunch. The climb up to Big Bald was tough. It was was a 1400 foot elevation climb over 4 miles with the last 600 feet over just 3/4 mile. Once to the top though, it was well worth the effort. We had a 360 degree view for miles around. It seems like the mountains go on for ever. It is a wonderful thing to see the beauty of God's creation. We met 2 retired local school teachers around the top and they gave us a good geography lesson of the area. They showed us which mountain peaks we would be going over and the next town we would be getting off the trail. We took an hour lunch break and just laid back in the grass and enjoyed the sunshine and blue sky. Later we started hiking again and it was mostly downhill for the next few miles. We finally arrived a Spivey Gap at 1630 which is where we had planned to stop for the day. We found a nice camping spot and set there for about 15 minutes before we both decided would could go a bit further for the day. We has already hiked 17 miles. We had a 600 foot elevation climb over 1.3 miles and it was tough for both of us. We kept checking to see if we had cell service because we needed to contact the hotel about a ride tomorrow. We kept hiking and finally we were able to contact the hotel and it was good news, they will pick us up tomorrow at 1300. We both need a day off the trail and we definitely both need a shower. It has been 8 days since our last shower. We hiked on for another hour and found a nice place to call home for the night. Dinner was cooked and eaten and then it was time for bed. We had hiked 19.3 miles today.
Date: 2015-04-29
From: Devil's Creek Gap 

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 8.8

We woke in the wee hours of the morning to a sound of a Whippoorwill bird. It would NOT stop making noise. it seemed to go on for hours! We knew it wasn't time to get up, so we tried to get back to sleep. Finally, sleep came and we slept until 6:00. We only had 9 miles to do today by 1:00, so we took time and had hot oatmeal and tea for breakfast in our tent.  That  was a nice change. We tore down camp and headed out by 7:30. We quickly climbed a mountain we thought would take 90 minutes and we did it in under 55 minutes. We certainly have obtained our hiking legs!  While rounding a corner, we saw our first deer. Yes, Wayne, finally, we saw a deer. It was a doe as there were no antlers. It looked at us and we looked at it. Then, it went down the mountain a bit, turned and watched us as we watched in. It came back up the mountain rounding the trail behind us, again, watching us as we watched it. Then, it scurried up the mountain and was gone.  We continued our hiking mostly down hill into Erwin , TN. As we decreased in elevation, we saw the first azaleas blooming. Of course we stoppped to marvel at the blooms. We had beautiful views of Erwin as we headed down the mountain into town.  We were picked up by Kyle from the Best Western in Johnson City, TN. (If you are ever passing through Johnson City, TN - you MUST stay at the BW. Kyle has been taking great care of us as he drove 20 minutes to pick us up. ) He drove us to the hotel where we checked in and immediatly took a shower. Oh, how great that shower felt after 9 days without a shower. We rested a bit, then had to do some resupply so we walked for food and lunch. The rest o the day was spent resting our weary bodies and catching up on technology and the news! A lot can happen in 9 days!!
Date: 2015-05-01
From: Erwin, TN

To: mile 364
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: light snow

After our zero day in Johnson City, we were   anxious to get back on the trail and start racking up the miles. Kyle from the Best Western took us back to the trail head at Erwin. We can't thank him enough for all his help getting us off and back on the trail and for taking care of us at the hotel. We were on the trail and hiking around 0800. We followed along the river and then we cut up through the woods and uphill. We had a long day of uphill. We were starting out around 1700 feet elevation and we had to climb to over 5000 feet later in day. We stated off strong and had gone nearly 4 1/2 miles in the first 2 hours. We continued to climb over the next several hours. We descended down a bit to Indian Grave gap and were quite pleased to see a truck with trail magic.   I had a cup of coffee and Lavender had some tea. We both had several home made brownies that were delicious. We saw Grizzly One there and hiked with him most of.the rest of the day. Once we left the trail magic, we hiked the next 4 or 5 hours in a dense fog.   We could only see about 50 feet in front of us. We started a 1000 foot climb over 2 miles which wore us out a bit. We were almost to the top when we stopped for lunch at 1430. We had leftover pizza from yesterdays dinner. We made it to the top a short while later and then started a long 2 mile descent.   We were planning to stop at the next shelter but it was only 1630 so we decided to continue since Grizzly One was going on. Grizzly One had seen a wild boar shortly before the shelter but we didn't see it. The rest of the day was spent hiking and talking to Grizzly One and Ranger. Ranger is a section hiker from Kansas. He is spending 3 weeks on the trail. We finally stopped at mile 364.4 which made for our biggest mileage day yet. We had hiked 21.5 miles today! Grizzly One also informed us that we had completed 1/6 of the trail today which was a big milestone.   Now we are tired and ready for some sleep.
Date: 2015-05-02
From: mile 364

To: Over Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: scattered clouds

It was another cold night last night. It was down into the thirties and we were both a bit chilly. Sleeping with a hat on helps a lot when it is cold. We slept in a bit this morning, 0630, and debated whether we should get up or stay in our nice warm sleeping bag. We soon decided that if we were going to get anywhere today we needed to face the cold and get up. It is a really hard thing to get out of your nice warm sleeping bags and put on a cold clothes. Once up, we had a poptart and we were on our way. The first few miles were small ups and downs and we made good time. Then we had a 1000 foot elevation climb and as soon as we reached the top we went right back down the same 1000 feet we just climbed.   At the gap at the bottom, Hughes Gap, we stopped for a 15 minute break. Grizzly One was with us and we discussed the climb coming up. We had a 2200 foot elevation climb over 4 miles to the top of Roan Mt. This mountain peak is over 6200 feet. We made the climb in just under 2 hours which was a lot quicker than what we had thought it would take us. I do think we are getting a bit stronger as the climbs are going better now than when we started in GA. Once at the top we stopped for a much deserved break for nearly an hour. We put up our tent to dry it out while we set in the sun and relaxed. We started the descent down from Roan Mt. at 15:00 and we went downhill for about an hour. We then started our climb up to Jane Bald which was another 500 foot climb. As we were climbing the bald, a lady and her daughter offered us some trail magic. She was trying to make her pack lighter. She gave us a juice box and power aid. We were thankful for the change of beverages as we tire of water. The views from the top of the bald was fantastic.   It was a sunny day with lots of blue sky and mountains in every direction. We passed a shelter around 17:00 but decided to go on because the next shelter was only another 2 miles. We arrived at the shelter just before 18:00. We filtered water and got our tent set up.   A little while later Grizzly One showed up and is tenting just down from us tonight. The shelter area is really busy tonight.   There are at lots of weekend hikers since the weather is so nice. We did another 20 mile day again today and our body's are pretty sore. Time for some much needed rest.
Date: 2015-05-03
From: Over mountain Shelter

To: mile 384.6
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: clear sky

We had a fitful night as there were lots of talking and hikers coming in late to tent. Some hikers were up and chatting at 5:30. So, we woke and broke camp. We were on the trail by 6:45. Today's hiking reminded us of England. Most of the hiking was on open fields. We started with a climb up a bald. The only difference of this hiking from England's is there were no sheep droppings on the trail or in the field. This took us to the top of Hump Mountain at 5600 feet. We dropped down 2600 feet over 5 miles. The trail was very, very rocky and lots of tree roots covered the trail. Half way down the decent we crossed into TN and finished NC for good. We rested at the bottom. We were fortune enough to have a section hiker who was leaving the trail take our rubbish. It is so nice to get rid if or rubbish as it is weight that serves no purpose. We had another climb after passing US 19 with an elevation climb of 900 feet. Once at the top, we stopped for lunch sitting in the shade as it was hot. Again, we set the tent up to dry in the sun as the weather was moist last night. We continued down the other side of this mountain taking a short side trail to Jones Falls. The falls were awesome. We sat on some rocks and put our tired feet in the water. It was cold and refreshing. We continued hiking on, passing the 400 mile mark! We saw only 2 other hikers this afternoon. It was strange not seeing any others after do many hikers were on the trail yesterday and this morning. We were trying desperately to have cell phone service today. We had found a perfect camp site beside a creek but had no service. So we gave up that camp site and continued hiking another few miles. We climbed a mountain in this time. We thought for sure we would have service. But, no luck.. We continued hiking, looking for a camp site. Thankfully, we found a stealth site shortly up the trail. We stopped at 17:45. We were tired but we set up camp and cooked dinner. Tonight was Lipton ' s Mexican rice with some dehydrated veggies thrown in served on flour tortillas with a bit of Cheddar cheese. It tasted so good.   It was a warm evening so we could eat outside. As we were cleaning up from dinner, it started to sprinkle rain. We hurried and finished cleaning up and climbed into our tent. We have to have rain as what would we do with everything being dry??
Date: 2015-05-04
From: mile 384.6

To: Pond Flats
Miles today: 19.0

What a difference a night makes. Last night we had a very quiet stealth camp site and we both had a great nights sleep. We awoke around 0615 and we were happy to have a dry tent. The rain we had last night dried off during the night. We had a yummy blueberry poptart for breakfast and we soon had everything packed and we started hiking at 0705. The first several miles were mild ups and downs through mostly mountain laurel and across lots of small streams. We next came across Hardcover Cascades which was a big jumble of large boulders with a stream tumbling over them. It was quite nice. We then started a long climb up to Moreland Mountain and we found a nice rock outcropping where we were happy to find we had cell phone reception.   We took a short 15 minute break to rest a bit. We then had a long 3 mile descent down to the valley and past an old barn. Shortly after we came to a road and we walked a half mile off trail to the Black Bear Resort.    We had a pizza for lunch and we bought lots of food supplies. The resort was really nice and the owners were great. We stayed there for nearly an hour just relaxing abd talking with the owner. (We did see a humming bird while relaxing.) The owner gave us a ride back to the trail which saved us walking a half of mile.   We could have relaxed there all afternoon but the trail called. If you ever want to get out to the woods and relax a bit, I would definitely recommend this place. Leaving the resort, we had a nice hike along the river for awhile and then we started climbing again. We went by Laurel Falls, we had to take over 200 steps down. The falls were quit spectacular. We stopped at the falls for a break and to put our feet in the water. We continued on following the river for about a half mile where we passed a lady a 2 young missionaries from Utah. We had a nice conversation with them and then they wanted a picture of us since we were thru-hikers.    Then we started our biggest climb of the day, a 1700 foot climb over just 2 1/2 miles.   This was one of our hardest climbs yet. We stopped around 1815 at Pond Flats and set up camp after filtering water. It was a much needed stop after a long day.