morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-12-23
From: Uncle johnny's hostel

To: Low gap
Miles today: 21.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We couldn't overcome the power of snooze this morning and didn't get up until just before 8. There was supposed to be a breakfast shuttle but again the uncle johnny's people reneged saying it was "winter" so they don't always do them. Even though last night they said there'd definitely go on the morning since they'd already reneged on the dinner shuttle. Luckily there was this guy Jason who when I asked if he knew about a shuttle immediately went around the corner to clean out his truck so he could give us a ride. This guy was quite the character. Thick Korean accent and loved shouting obscenities at siri and laughing hysterically. It was pretty funny and he was super nice. We all ate breakfast together at the huddle house. He got a phone call at one point and it reminded me of trigger happy TV skit where the guy had a gigantic cell phone and would scream at the top of his lungs on a call. His friend was basically on speaker so it was a max volume Korean conversation at an erwin, TN diner/gas station. Hilarious. We were checked out and back on the trail around 10 and somehow managed to knock out some miles. It was around 6000 feet of climbing and 4000 descent so I don't know how we both feel better than yesterday. There were a few high balds that we wanted to get over and to lower elevation since it's supposed to be rainy and foggy in the morning. We ended up not hitting the balds until night. The wind was whipping but at least it was clear and easy to follow. I think I could see the night skiing area I went to last year. The views up there were pretty cool at night. They're calling for 50 mph gusts and rain in the early morning so here's hoping it's all dry and calm by the time we finally roll out of our hammocks.
Date: 2016-12-25
From: Flint mountain shelter

To: Spring mountain shelter
Miles today: 21.7
Weather: broken clouds

Merry Christmas! It was a total mistake to hike through christmas. After talking with our families festivating I just got down on being out in the rain and fog all day. I think being in a hostel would've helped the blues a bit. Luckily Kate had a blues christmas mix on her iPhone and that helped too. Then what really saved me from depression was the sun finally came out and I saw the first bit of blue sky in days. It was pretty much out for a beautiful sunset then we had 4 hours of night hiking left which was a real chore. Somehow today's hike ended up taking us 12.5 hours and I have no idea why. We had some extra breaks for phone calls and some rocky ridges but I dunno. I'm glad we pushed though because now we've got a short 11 miles mostly downhill to hot springs where I'm craving a hot meal like mad. And Lauren and carter are picking us up to go to Asheville. Can't wait to celebrate the holidays a bit better. We've pretty much been wet and in the fog and/or rain for days. I want some fancy fish and a cocktail with egg yolk and nutmeg. Or beer and pizza. I'm exhausted so that's it for journaling. Except I do want to mention a couple ATVed down the trail right at me. That was a first.
Date: 2016-12-26
From: Spring mountain shelter

To: Hot springs, NC
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

We went to bed under the stars but woke up again in a thick fog and wind. The tarp had kept the wind out pretty well. This was supposedly the last good water for a while, so in the dark and fog I was pretty concerned about being able to find it. Luckily there was just the hint of trail in front of the shelter and after following that a bit there were log steps to let me know I was on the right track. I had instantly lost sight of Kate's headlamp and was out of earshot with the wind so the obvious trail was much appreciated. It stayed foggy most of the morning but thankfully cleared up as we descended to hot springs. There were some great views of the French broad river from some cool rock formations. This was the hike wed partially done with katie, schuyler, Oliver, and marles. Closer to town we started passing the first day hikers in a while who were really curious about us and our stinky packs. They were a nice change from the group of mean, stupid bear hunters I'd passed earlier. They had all been standing around with their dogs. I realized I'd been glaring at them as I approached so I shifted gears and wished them a merry Christmas. None of them responded. Just stared stupidly and meanly and as I walked away pretended to release the dogs on me. Classy. Really hate people that hunt with dogs.   Anyway we got to town and had a great meal at the iron horse station waiting for Lauren and carter. They showed up about the same time as tealeaf and buckshot. It was great to see everybody. We had a lot of fun. Their kids are great. And as a bonus his mom watched them and we all got to go out in West Asheville. It was past everybody's bedtime, hikers and parents, but we all manned up and hit 3 spots. We treated it like our Christmas eve and it was fabulous.
Date: 2016-12-27
From: Hot springs, NC

To: Asheville NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

 The sower family is wonderful and I'll miss stopping in here on my way to the mountains. I'm really going to miss NC too; it's nice to be here for most of the rest of the trail. Lauren made us her gourmet coffee and eggs and we all hung out playing some music and games. Their piano is really nice. Evie got a keyboard and fiddle for christmas and we had a fun little jam. She's so cute. She knows the timing and dynamics you can tell, so I bet she'll be a force on that fiddle before too long. The hikers all went downtown later. Tealeaf and buckshot walked to do some more scoping and thankfully carter gave us a ride as the thought of a 3 mile walk into town sounded gross. We were pretty exhausted so ended up at this old timey looking book store with big couches and just convalesced there for hours. Teashot met up with us there around 3 and we embarked on a little brewery sampling tour. We went to one world, then wicked weed and green man. I never realized til tealeaf showed me the quote that wicked weed is Henry VIII themed since he once referred to hops that way. We were back by 930 and exhausted. The Sowers were all snoozing too and we quickly joined them.
Date: 2016-12-28
From: Asheville NC

To: Hot springs, NC
Miles today: 0.1
Weather: clear sky

We had another fun morning with the kiddos. Carter and I went out to pick up some biscuit head and we all feasted. When the hikers went out to walk to Ingles, evie bashfully tried to follow. As we walked through the aisles carter and evie showed up. She really wanted to be a part of the grocery expedition so he left her with me. She showed me where stuff was and had a lot of recommendations. She had a walkie talkie too that she used to keep her doll up to date on the happenings. It was a beautiful day. Almost hot. Hard to believe it's supposed to be snowing and 40 mph winds soon. I was sad to leave them.  Carter and Wyatt drive us back. We had some food and beers at iron horse and tried to get a room but they were totally booked as well as the next 2 places we called. Apparently this is a busy time for hot springs. After teashots description of the actual hot springs I had to try it, but they were booked solid for the day too. Luckily we got a 10am slot tomorrow. We had to pay 20 extra for some group tub that we'll have to ourselves, but it sounded worth it so I don't mind. We finally found a room about spring creek tavern and on the way inadvertently made this a non donut day since main St is the AT. we stopped at the outfitter and got our smokies permits and other supplies. It's a cool spot with a really neat map room upstairs. When we finally checked in I asked again abut a hiker rate and she said no again, but then last minute was like we'll I could put you in the king suite for 10 bucks less than wed charge you for the crappier room. So that was really nice. The bar is right downstairs and Kate noted this is probably how most Inn and tavern experiences used to be. I've always liked this bar.
Date: 2016-12-29
From: Hot springs, NC

To: Roaring fork shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: broken clouds

After coffee and breakfast we headed over to the hot springs resort. That was pretty nice way to start the day. The lady asked us if we'd ever soaked with them before. It was basically a hot tub on the river with 3 walls so you could get naked. The hot springs are further up the river so they pump in the water and change it out between sessions. That's also how th hey make sure you don't go over your time. When times up, they pull the plug and the water starts draining out. After our "soak" we had a long lunch at the tavern then headed out. I had some more errands to do so wasn't on the trail until 130 or so. It was a long slow climb out of town but seemed to go pretty fast. Lot of section hikers out there for the holiday. The first shelter was jammed packed with people which I hadn't seen in a long time. One plus I noticed was that we didn't need our headlamps until 6pm. The daylight was noticeably longer a week out from the solstice. We caught up with teashot at the packed shelter and they had the same plan as us. It made the next 5 miles of night hiking go a bit faster having some chit chat.
Date: 2016-12-30
From: Roaring fork shelter

To: Standing bear hostel
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: scattered clouds

It was a bit chilly this morning, but clear and beautiful. I hit max patch with a blistering wind so didn't linger too long. It was good being back there and the views were great. We were all a bit apprehensive about standing bear from all the mixed reviews we heard, but it ended up being pretty cool. They had pbrs and digiornios for reasonable prices and the folks there were all nice. We hung out in the kitchen until hiker late shooting the shoot. We finally got the box my dad sent us and it was full of goodies. So much we had to share. Unfortunately our bounce box apparently never left erwin and so Kate is without her pad. We couldn't wait for it there so she'll have to risk getting a ticket and hanging her hammock in the shelter or nearby. They were saying there are only 2 rangers now and with it being so cold and us usually getting in after dark I think the odds are in our favor.
Date: 2016-12-31
From: Standing bear hostel

To: Tri corner knob shelter
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: clear sky

We're feeling pretty proud of ourselves for making it here before total darkness. Kate got a big headstart on me out of standing bear. I took my time with the free coffee. This is our first night in the smokies and it was around 7000 feet of climbing in. It didn't seem so bad though. It was really just a constant slow burn. Never that steep or strenuous. Towards the end once we got in the 6000 range it was a bit icy and windy. I probably should've used my yak tracks and will tomorrow. They lifted the campfire ban recently and this shelter has a fireplace. I tried in vain to get a fire going but the wood was all too wet. It feels good to finally be in the smokies. Tomorrow were even staying in gatlinburg. I've got a feeling that'll be surreal.
Date: 2017-01-01
From: Tri corner knob shelter

To: Newfound gap
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We got up early knowing there was some kitsch craziness awaiting in gatlinburg. It was misty rainy all day but warm. Still a lot of ice though so I was glad to have debuted my yak traks. We were worried about the ride in so tried to arrange a cab or shuttle with no luck. Fortunately day hikers were plentiful past the Charlie's bunion. I was bummed not having any views from it but it was still cool to climb out there. It's a series of ball shaped cliffs and when I climbed out onto it it seemed like I was floating in a rock ball above a white abyss. Tealeaf and buckshot had gone up ahead and met two parties both super into talking about our hike and they offered us rides into gatlinburg. They were all really cool. One poor lady though took an epic spill that I only saw the aftermath of. She had tripped on the ice, landed on her ass and then slipped off the icy path and started to role down the slope. Buckshot said if the tree clump hadn't have stopped her she mightve tumbled all the way down the mountain. Thankfully she was just dirty and not injured. We got into town and man is that a contrast. Animatronic dinosaurs, arcades, haunted houses, just total neon cray cray. We hit up the brewery, gt some ice cream and hit the hay. It's so crazy we decided to zero tomorrow.
Date: 2017-01-02
From: Newfound gap

To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Gatlinburg is ridiculous. Great place for a zero. We played some 3D black Light putt putt and went into a mirror maze, which I gotta say even though it was classtastic, that mirror maze was impressive. Rest of the day we just did the usual. Resupplied, putzed around, ate, etc.
Date: 2017-01-03
From: Gatlinburg

To: Double springs shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: clear sky

It was a bit of a frustrating start and took us no less than 3 hitches to get out of gatlinburg to newfound gap. It was complicated by this other hiker who wanted to come with, making it a 3 person ride seeking. The first lady that picked us up very matter of factly said she'd take us 2 miles up to her office. Then we waited there for a while until a nice guy and his daughter picked us up and we're fascinated by all things trail related. They took us about 3 miles out to where they were gonna hike to mt lecontea d were so nice I bet they'd have taken us all the way if we would've asked. We didn't ask though and then proceeded to wait another hour plus it seemed like. Everyone was waving and honking but no one stopped. I offered one Ohio folks 20 bucks to take us eventually and he very fearfully and meanly refused. We had resolved to just road walk it when an outdoorsy lookin car pulled over and this really nice girl took us. She was moving cross country and her car was packed to the frickin brim but she moved stuffaround and somehow we did it. Midnight was totally buried with one pack half out the window. I sat on my pack and Kate sat on me in the front seat.  This girl had some kind of youth wilderness leader job and said she worked for the NRA. That didn't quite jive with all her other attributes so I wonder if that's actually the rifle association. She took another selfie of us and we were off.  By that time it was 2.5 hours after we started hitching. Teashot left over an hour later and we didn't catch up to them until 4 miles in or so. They apparently saw me in full prayer hands mode at our last hitch spot. I went on to hike ahead and the light rain and mist never stopped. The trail was a river and my socks were quickly soaked. I passed over the view less clingmans dome, the highest point on the AT. I got to the shelter for lunch and waited for folks to catch up. I had settled in so well I was feeling super lazy and convinced the whole gang to crap out! We had hot toddies, hot chocolate and smokes. All before nightfall and it was just dandy. A really nice section hiker join ed us but he's unfortunately sawing some super gnarly logs right now.
Date: 2017-01-04
From: Double springs shelter

To: Mollies ridge shelter
Miles today: 19.4
Weather: clear sky

The coy smokies mistress afforded us a slant view of an ankle under her icy tree lined skirt. We finally got some sunshine and fog break to gt a panoramic vista from good Ole rocky top. I think the actual inspiration for the song.  Just in time too as that was probably the last real peak. And we hit the 2000 mile mark today! No sign or marker but still exciting. Right now a pack of coyotes is howling up a storm outside. It got cold again. Ice covered trees and views.
Date: 2017-01-05
From: Mollies ridge shelter

To: Fontana village
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Well that was it for the smokies. Thankfully we had a pretty clear day and got one final spectacular view at the Shuckstack tower. That was pretty great. It's this old rickety fire tower and I had the bright idea of taking my whole pack up to have lunch up there. To its credit, most of the windows were intact which blocked the wind. The downside was the floor wood was rotting, and there was broken glass and animal shit everywhere. Not ideal lunching conditions. And what animal climbed all the way up to the top to drop a deuce I have no idea. Instead of lunch we had a brief safety meeting and took in the view. When it was my turn to climb down, lowering the pack down through the first stairs felt pretty similar to how it feels getting cliffed out while skiing. Just this sinking feeling that man, it was pretty stupid to be in this position. I just went super slow and deliberate and it was fine, with a small dose of adrenaline. We had a lovely hot lunch at the bottom and carried on. The dam was cool as always and I read all the informational plaques waiting on the crew. I started reminding everyone who'd listen that my great grandpa built it, basically by himself. Wish I got more details from my grandma too about living here as a little girl. We stayed at fontana village whuch was not at all what I'd expected from her stories. I talked to a bunch of folks that worked there about her and apparently she was a "dam kid". They've got really cool historical photos all over the lodge and a couple group photos of kids in school. She may even be one of them. Pretty cool. The lady at the desk let me see this book of memories they'd made of people who moved here like grandma did to build it with the TVA. Woulda been sweet to get her memories in here. It's a cool story too. It's the biggest dam east of the Mississippi and was built in only 2 years from 42 to 44. They needed massive amounts of electricity for the nuclear hoopla go I ng on at oak Ridge, so this was the answer. Steel was in scarce supply during the war so it was apparently built with innovative use of concrete to make it strong enough.  It went from a backwater town with dirt roads to a thriving worker village overnight, turned vacation village mecca in the 50s and 60s. For us though, it was a ghost town that luckily had a restaurant open for 3 hours, a laundromat, and a gas station that sells beer. It's a dry County, apparently the only one in NC, but if you're a "resort" defined by having a tennis court and a pool or some such nonsense then you can sell beer. We barely made it to the pit stop before they closed. Super nice folks. Then laundry ended up being fun. We had the tiny little room to ourselves and we made it our personal bar with heat.
Date: 2017-01-06
From: Fontana village

To: Robbinsville, nc
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

We had a solid breakfast at the lodge and our daily freak out about the upcoming cold weather. We decided to keep the motel train going and go into robbinsville ahead of the winter storm. It's got a name and people are saying everywhere from 4 inches to 4 feet of snow and 50 below.  Mass hysteria basically. It was pretty chilly but the 2000 ft climb out of fontana warmed me right up. We were worried about getting a hitch in the weather and possibly at dusk so luckily this guy mustard seeds was available for a shuttle. He was super nice and had hiked the trail last year. He agreed to shuttle us back in the morning too, right before he was leaving for Honduras. Like literally right before. Good timing. It's a dry town but he showed us around and told us to eat at lynns place. That was correct and we got some great great home cooking there. It started to snow whole we were eating and the storm warnings got real.
Date: 2017-01-08
From: Nantahala outdoor center

To: Bryson city, nc
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up hours before the rest of the crew as per ush and updated my journal.  Didn't realize how far behind I'd been because that took me a couple hours. Eventually we all went to the morning perk which was fantastic. By the time we were out of there it was almost 1 and we went back to the brewery to watch some football. Some good folks there. A couple dudes came in with a chess board and looked serious. They set it up in the unheated main room, like 10 degrees. Folks seemed to know them and one lady went over to challenge the jovial old champion. We were about to leave but I really wanted to play this dude and probably learn something. I've been playing cpu6 for so long it was nice to play a human. And I did learn some things. Apparently I was doing well and had the advantage until the end when I allowed him to pull off his "two pigs in shit" rook placement, at which point he had me in a few more moves. He was having a grand ole time and flirting with tealeaf in a non creepy way the whole time. He claims to be a distant relative of Lincoln and goes by the name honest Abe. He also offered to give us a ride from springer to Atlanta.  Well see. The shenanigans with him kept us at the brewery another couple hours. We were all exhausted and headed back to the hotel. It was kind of a ghost town and the only thing open for food was pizza Hut. So I walked down there and picked one up plus some ice cream.
Date: 2017-01-09
From: Bryson city, nc

To: Wayah bald shelter
Miles today: 16.3
Weather: overcast clouds

The super nice brew master brooks at nantahala pulled through and was coming to pick us up at the motel at 830. I made a quick run to Walgreens and Bojangles for so handwarmers and biscuits. He rolled up in a giant utility vandecked out in the brewery logo plus a few 4 packs of pounders of the noon day ipa and app trail pale ale. It was some fantastic trail magic and he was just a straight shooting solid dude.  I just had the two that I carried plus one of Kate's. They're a pound each and we all took 2 except buckshot who took 4 like a champ, then we drank 2 at the NOC for a morning brew to at least off load a couple pounds without wasting the magic. Today was the last 2000 plus sustained climb of the whole trip. It ended up being around 6000 climbing for the day and feels like a bit more with the snow. It was at least warmer today than the last hike and I didn't end up needing the foot warmers. The bojo must've been extra strong because the whole initial climb I was talking teashots heads off, then I went up and talked Kate's ear off too. We did a couple hairy sections where we'd been with marles before, then came up on the wesser bald tower platform that had crazy good 360 views. I'm now finally past all the sections I've seen before and am now in unknown territory. Can't believe GA is so close.  Kate and I are at the shelter now but teashot didn't make it. They were looking at a couple hours of night hiking and I think the snow just got to them and they stayed at the one 5 miles back.
Date: 2017-01-11
From: Franklin, NC

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 0.0

We walked up to a cool little coffee shop/bar called the rathskellar and the guy there was super nice. He was the one responsible for the weird sled tracks I'd seen for miles yesterday on the way up to Siler bald.  Afterwards we got breakfast dessert at a diner down the way then resupplied at Ingles. We probably put in a good 5 miles of walking around town because then we had to go across town to finally pick up our wayward bounce box at the post office. That was the last bounce of the trip. We sent it on to its final resting place in CA.  We then got sucked into town for another 0 day due to an indulgent stop at the other brewery, currahee. They had a nice spot on the river and a few beers in tealeaf floated the idea of not hiking and we all were an easy sell. It was already like 3 or 4 pm anyway. We'd been chilling making end trip arrangements out of Atlanta and sorting out all the logistics of that. We indulged some more then went to this delicious french-creolle restaurant in a gas station. Tealeaf had been drinking some high gravity brews and had also only had a light breakfast so unfortunately had done herself in. She was pretty funny though. It brought out the coiwfee talk accent and she was basically asleep the whole time at the restaurant. We were getting some fantastic evil eyes from the other tables, but our waitress was really cool.