morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-03-23
From: Plumorchard Gap Shelter

To: Standing Indian Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: scattered clouds

We quickly devoured our last good breakfast and continued on our way up the long and gently rising Standing Indian Mountain. Unfortunately, the view from the mountain was blocked by tunnels of rhododendron and bare trees. Our original plan was to walk the 11.7 miles to Betty Creek campsite but once we arrived there we quickly decided to keep hiking due to our lack of sufficient sustenance especially chocolate. As we approached Mt. Albert we finished off our last bit of trail food and our only thoughts were of getting to Franklin quickly. Half a mile from Mt. Albert, we spotted an old camper through the underbrush and the smoke of a camp fire. Curious what this was all about we approached the camp. A jolly older guy welcomed us, introduced himself as ¢the old fisherman¢ doing some Trail Magic. What a life saver, we filled up on cookies, apples, and soda while the fisherman told us about his connection to the trail. He through hiked some years ago and comes back every year, driving down from Michigan, to do Trail Magic. He suggested that we spend the night in fire tower which sounded amazing. Excitedly, we went on our way and rapidly finished the steep climb up the mountain to make our home in the tower. Here, we saw our first sunset on the trail and ended our long day.
Date: 2015-03-24
From: Standing Indian Shelter

To: Rock Gap
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: few clouds

From the top of the fire tower our unreasonable expectation was to see a beautiful sunrise but the wind picked up considerably driving in clouds, rain, and fog. After a sleepless night with the relentless banging and clattering of the stairs and unlatched windows opening and slamming shut, we were relieved to get up at first light and hike the six miles to our shuttle pick up point at Rock Gap at 11am. After fantasizing about food for the last three days, the first thing we did when we got to our motel room was order a delicious pizza. After quenching our need for food and a long shower, we spent the rest getting much needed supplies from the local outfitters (three Eagles) and Walmart. We were overwhelmed by the site of shelves and shelves of sugary confections and chocolate heaven. Baby was completely in awe of our carpeted, warm motel room and caught the zoomies and then settled down on the bed to sleep for the next 24+ hours. The next day we enjoyed a free 7 o'clock breakfast at the First Baptist Church. These wonderful people volunteer to feed hikers every year, every morning for over one month. We had an all you can eat breakfast of bacon, pancakes, and beverages. It was the best breakfast we have had in weeks. Thank First Baptist Church!! We spent the rest of the day wandering around town and found a truly delicious local coffee shop, Main Street Coffee and Yogurt, where we stayed for hours because the wifi at our motel was not up to parr.
Date: 2015-03-27
From: Rock Gap

To: Siler Bald Shelter 4600ft
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: overcast clouds

We heartily enjoyed our second free breakfast at the church and took the 11 am shuttle back to Rock Gap. We debated whether we should stay in town for the next two nights though because the weather forecast told us it would get down to 28 degrees and possibly snow. We ignored this and happily went on our way. After 8 miles, the blue blaze trail to the shelter was visible. We walked the exceedingly long path (.5 miles) down to the shelter and settled there with Burl and Tree Beard, our people (we tend to run into each other in cold weather). Around 6 pm, weatherman's predictions seemed to be correct for a change and it did indeed start snowing and dropped to 25 degrees. A lot of hikers had decided to stay in town for the these two nights. We wondered if these hikers may have had the right idea. By morning, we were convinced of it and regretted our decisions to get back on the trail.
Date: 2015-03-28
From: Siler Bald Shelter 4600ft

To: Winding Staircase Gap
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We awoke to a thick blanket of snow covering everything outside and half of the shelter inside. it was 25 degrees at 8 am. Our fuel was too cold to light. Our 2 liter container of water was frozen solid. While trying to light the stove, we could watch the water in our pot freeze. Instead of having a hot breakfast and tea we packed our stuff with frozen fingers and ate Musketeers. Wistful had been so cold during the night that we decided to walk back down Winding Stair Gap to catch the shuttle to Franklin where we would spend the next night since it was promised to be even colder (15 degrees in the mountains). At Outdoor 76, Wistful bought a sleeping bag liner since we will be reaching the Smoky Mountains next week which are just as cold. Now, we are once again sitting in our beloved coffee shop and can update our Trail Journal! And we will also be able to witness the Hiker Fools Bash which is going on this weekend.
Date: 2015-03-29
From: Winding Staircase Gap

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

For the third and last time we ate free breakfast at the First Babtist Church, then we hurried to pack our gear and make it to the 9a.m. shuttle to get to the trail. It was cold but sunny, a good day to hike.Today so many people headed out of Franklin and back to the trail, that they needed two shuttles. Understandably, the trail was very crowded and we never hiked alone. Our destination was Wayah Bald, 5000 feet high and gorgeous views into the Valley and of the surrounding mountains. We stayed up on the Bald, napping in the grass, for over an hour and enjoyed the sunshine, before walking the last half mile to the camping area. We had chili for dinner and crawled into our sleeping bags before the sun went down.
Date: 2015-03-30
From: Wayah Bald Shelter

To: Wesser Bald Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: light rain

As usual, the morning started out very foggy and rainy. There were still patches of snow along the path and under trees. We had a quick breakfast and were ready to start our hike down the bald. As we walked an increasing amount of branches, brambles and and fallen trees blocked the path. With great difficulty and some annoyance at the ill maintenance of the trail we climbed over and under the obstacles. Strangely enough, the trail ended completely a little further on. We walked back to the campsite in confusion having obviously missed a turn and started again being careful not to lose the trail this time. After our little mishap, the day continued rather uneventfully and we made camp at Wesser bald with Conductor, Papa Al, Sunrise, Salmon, Moment, Spirit, Dirt, Stache, and Rapunzel.
Date: 2015-03-31
From: Wesser Bald Shelter

To: NOC
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: clear sky

This morning we were excited to hike down to the NOC, eat some high calorie food, and take a shower. The climb down was rather short but incredibly steep. We had beautiful views down into the valley and of the Nanthala River. When we reached the NOC, we were heart broken to discover that the showers were not open yet! We did have very good burgers and fries. We spent several hours by the river. Fyedka had fun splashing around and we dangled our feet in the ice cold water for as long as we could stand (which was only a few seconds at a time).There was no good place to camp in the valley so we ended up hiking back up to the last shelter (Rufus Morgan Shelter) with a few other people.As it turned out a lot of people opted for the shelter/camping instead of staying in the hostel at the NOC.
Date: 2015-04-01
From: Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Sassafras Shelter
Miles today: 7.7

Cream of wheat with Reese's pieces was our breakfast, a pretty good combination if the cream of wheat hadn't been so watery...As Relentless was taking apart the tent, she accidentally snapped the tent pole! Good thing we were so close the outfitters and they were able to give is a splint as a temporary fix until we could get a new pole. We decided to do laundry after all, since there is no telling when we will get the chance again. And then, amazingly, they opened the public showers! You put money into the machine, a quarter a minute. Wistful had a 6 quarter shower, it seemed like the best shower ever.While waiting for the laundry, we ate large pizza and tried to use the internet, but no luck there. Relentless realized she needed more dog food and there was none at the NOC. So we had to walk about a mile along the winding, sidewalk-less road to get to the filling station. Luckily a nice couple with a truck saw us and were happy to give us a ride to get dog food and brought us back to the NOC. They would have even taken us to Bryson City and back if the filling station had not had kibble!! The man had hiked the trail himself.Finally we were ready to start hiking at 3:30pm and hiked the 6.9 uphill miles to the shelter just before dark. We crawled into our tent just around hiker midnight at 9 pm.
Date: 2015-04-02
From: Sassafras Shelter

To: Cody Gap
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

Baby had to go pee at 7am this morning so we were able to get an earlier than usual start today. We were all packed up and hiking by 8:30- our new record! the climb to Cheoah Bald was hard and we were especially hungry after a less than adequate breakfast but the view from the top was phenomenal. Layers and layers of mountains were visible from here and we were left wondering if we were looking at the Smokies.As we were walking through a section of trail with no water sources, we were very glad to see a trail angel fill up water bottles for free in Stecoah Gap just before Jacob's Latter! Jacob's Latter wouldn't have been so difficult, if they believed in switch backs in NC instead of making AT hikers walk virtually straight up or down the sides of mountains. Even with hard stretches like this throughout the day, we made it to Cody Gap around 4. Here we camped alongside other through-hikers Conductor, Papa Al, Tumbles and Scout, Sam, and Spudnik and Fair Enough. We have been hiking with these amazing people for about a week now!
Date: 2015-04-03
From: Cody Gap

To: Fontana Village
Miles today: 8.7
Weather: overcast clouds

We will be starting the Smoky Mountains in a couple of days! Unfortunately, they don¢t allow dogs on the trails so we are boarding Baby with Loving Care Kennels. Since we were supposed to meet the lady who will pick up baby in the early afternoon, we left camp quickly to walk the 10 miles to Fontana. The early hills were nice, gentle and quite enjoyable and we ran into Sam near a small water source. Near a small road, we came across some Trail Magic! A cooler with strawberry donuts and sodas. We enjoyed a nice snack break but had to keep going soon. After that, it was uphill for a long time with limited switch backs. At the top of the last very long hill, Conductor and Papa Al had found a nice lunch spot with a gorgeous view. Papa Al gave Baby some sausage and we continued down the long hill to the Fontana Marina. The hill was long and steep but we saw the dam from far away and many flowers as well. We ate lunch and waited for the lady to come pick up Fyedka. Originally, we had planned on continuing on to the Fontana Hilton Shelter after Baby was gone but we quickly changed our minds and instead went to stay at the Fontana Resort for a night. We resupplied there, showered, and had had hamburgers and French fries for dinner with a bunch of other hikers. For dessert, we had cr me brulee cheesecake and triple chocolate cake.
Date: 2015-04-05
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The morning was cold and windy. We had Muesli for breakfast, too cold to cook, and we started out wearing most of our clothes. But soon the weather turned really nice and we had wonderful views from Rocky Top Mt. and enjoyed a long lunch on one of the balds. The balds are mountain tops that lack trees, years ago they were kept bald by grazing animals (sheep) but now some of them are kept bald by mowing and controlled burns. We really like the Balds, they are the best places for picnics and views. We ended our hike today at Derrick Knob shelter, tent camped again and had ramen noodles and apple cinnamon cream of wheat for dinner.
Date: 2015-04-06
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Collins Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: light rain

We woke to a warmer than usual morning but the wind was extraordinarily cold. We had an amazing breakfast of mochas and oatmeal and went on our way bypassing the toilet area and finding large trees down the trail instead. The minute we had our tent packed up, it started to rain. The trail was easy and mostly downhill and we made good time despite the weather. 4 miles before Clingman¢s Dome¢ the highest point on the AT, the path began to weave through a beautiful green forest with tall trees. The smell would probably have been amazing without the rain. At one point, I looked through the woods and barely within view was the tail of some kind of animal. It was light brown and was not at all perturbed by our presents. It stared at us and then went back to whatever it was doing. I showed wistful and she finally spotted it between the tree trunks and branches. We could not figure out what it was so we immediately started talking at the tops of our voices and continued on our way and were thankfully only about 50 feet from a busy shelter. The rest of the way to Clingmans Dome was animal free despite our diligently looking deep into the forest and the trees around us with every step. Although it was only supposed to be a few miles, the path up the mountains seemed to last much longer than it should have. The rain, wind, and cold didn¢t make the hike any easier either and our pants were quickly muddied and soaked through. We finally reached the tower on the top of the water but it was much too foggy to see anything and there was no point in staying long. We made our way as quickly as possible to Cosby Knob shelter and in consideration of the pouring rain, slept in the shelter. There were just a few people as we came in, some German kids and an older guy we knew as ¢Irish¢. Later people poured in and the Shelter filled up, somebody used a bear bag rope to construct a cloth line zigzagging through the shelter. The night was o.k. despite all the wet people and damp clothes (socks!!)
Date: 2015-04-07
From: Collins Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 4.5
Weather: overcast clouds

We hiked the 4 remaining miles to Newfound gap were we hitched a ride with a guy named Ryan, a teacher from Detroit on Spring break. He took us the 15 miles to the NOC in Gatlinburg where we got a free shower in the basement, with a tricky light, because it would set us in complete darkness in the middle of showering ,to come back on right before one was about to wonder what to do about it.Later we strolled down Gatlinburg Main Street and what a weird town that is. Nothing but restaurants, Motels, Souvenir Shops and entertainment like putt-putt golf and mirror maze and other fairground stuff. We went into the Flapjack place and ate and ate so much, we both ordered two meals and devoured most of them, taking the rest with us. After all the food we decided to stay one night in Gatlinburg after all, instead to resupply and go back to the trail as originally planned. We got a room at the Grand Prix Motel, which was nice enough and had fridge and microwave and a very helpful guy running the place. He told us how to make our way to the Food Store outside the city, via the Trolley.We still had to walk through the town with several bags of food, weaving in between all the tourists. Incredible how many people there were. There is this strange and extreme contrast, the National Park, all nature and true and then Gatlinburg all fake and expensive manmade entertainment.It was interesting never the less, and if we would have had more time we would have indulged in other things besides eating, too. For example there was a Moonshine place were one could try all different kinds of Moonshine, sounds pretty much like fun¢¦We had to do laundry and getting our food resupply took much longer than expected ,so we concentrated on that and got back to the Motel to get ready to leave in the morning.
Date: 2015-04-08
From: Newfound Gap

To: Don't know the name of shelter (lost the page)
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We hoped to get an early ride out of Gatlinburg since we had to walk 15.6 miles today, but the taxis were too expansive and the shuttle didn¢t come until 10a.m. So we were ready to start finally at 11:30a.m. at Newfound gap. There were some trail angels giving out chocolate Easter eggs to the hikers, very nice. Relentless was hiking like a maniac that morning, but we had that appointment to get Baby back in two days, so we had no choice. The Smokeys are beautiful and we were most of the time up on the ridge so it was really enjoyable, especially as the weather was very spring like. The forest here is so different from what we have seen so far, it reminds me of the Black Forest in Germany, where it is dark green and dense, there are so many different kinds of moss, covering everything in the damp underbrush, and of course the fragrant fur and pine trees and the soft paths covered in dried pine needles. We ended at the shelter and found a rather slanted space to camp, but we met a lot of familiar people at the shelter and had a good macaroni and cheese and tune dinner.
Date: 2015-04-09
From: Don't know the name of shelter (lost the page)

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Today we had to hike another 14 miles to be on time for Baby but we knew we could do it and were able to slow down a bit. Also these were our last days in the Smokeys and we I really wanted to enjoy this time. The weather and hike were lovely the last shelter we had to sleep in was awful. There was no tent space around the shelter and the shelter itself had a chain link fence closing the usually open front. So hikers basically lock themselves and their stuff in for the night. It was very restless night, and at 1 in the morning 3 young guys who had been night hiking came to the shelter. They illuminated the whole thing with their headlamps, then they clanked and rattled with the chain link door to get it open, it was really the second worst night I had on the trail.
Date: 2015-04-10
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: moderate rain

We got up at 6:30 a.m. and left the shelter without breakfast to walk the last mile to davenport gap to receive Baby.There we cooked our oatmeal and Mochas while waiting for the lady from loving care kennels. Baby was happy to see us and ready to hike.We had to cover 10 miles and got to a beautiful camping spot where we just started eating and resting in our tent after that last sleepless night we were really tired.
Date: 2015-04-11
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 8.2
Weather: broken clouds

We took our time this morning, eating and writing postcards and packing up with no hurry, since the day and the camp site were so nice. Eventually we made it to Max Patch bald and stayed there for a long time. The 360 degree views of the mountains were incredible. It was very windy and some people set up their tents on top of the bald. But our tent being as big as it is would have been too hard to set up in this kind of wind so we opted to keep hiking down to the shelter, even though seeing the sunset up here would have been amazing, I am sure.At the foot of Max Patch there were a bunch of people camped with their Llamas; they used them as pack animals, how awesome would that be to have a Llama carry your stuff for you??There were only 3 other hikers at the shelter, so we had plenty of space to pitch our tent.
Date: 2015-04-12
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Deer Park Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: clear sky

This was going to be another almost 15 mile day, but then we could look forward to a nero (only 3 miles!!) into Hot Springs the following day. It was a nice warm day so we decided to take an extended lunch break on Walnut Mountain. When we were packing up, Dr. Livingston I presume, stopped by and told us that Scout and Tumbles had received the message Wistful had written in one of the shelter logs and were only a couple of miles behind us! We are looking forward to seeing them in Hot Springs.About 5 miles from the shelter, we were running out of water and there was only one water source between where we were and the next shelter. When we got there, we discovered that the creek was moderately stagnant and had lots of salamanders and other pond creatures in it. It took us 30 minutes to collect enough water with a peanut jar lid to fill up two of our water bottles. In the end, we were however too worried about getting sick from the water and didn¢t even drink it. We got to the shelter and decided to stay at the campsite near the water (which looked a lot better than the previous water source). Just before dark, we got a lovely surprise as Tumbles and Scout walked into camp! It was great to see them again. We ate and chatted together until dark and went to bed way past hiker midnight.
Date: 2015-04-13
From: Deer Park Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 3.2
Weather: few clouds

We are going into Hot Springs, NC. So looking forward to a shower and food! Hot springs is the ultimate A.T.hiker town. They even have the A.T. symbol on the sidewalks since the trail goes right through the town. We had reservations for a double room at the laughing heart hostel. I was a little disappointed as the room and double bed were really small. The big disappointment came when the lady said we couldn¢t leave Baby alone in the room to run our errands. So I had to do something about that, how are you supposed to enjoy time in town when you can¢t even go out to eat?So we found a place in town, the Alpine Court Motel, where we could leave her no problem while taking care of town business. There is always so much to do when you come to town that a zero day really doesn¢t feel like a zero day. First you have to shower and then eat, after that you are usually ready to take care of less pleasant things like doing laundry, finding shops to resupply, and visit the outfitter. Lost tent stakes, fuel for the stove, insoles for your shoes. Relentless was starting to have problems with her big toe going numb, so she is trying out some different, more cushioned insoles, hopefully it helps.We ate several times at the Smoky Mountain Diner, they have good reasonably priced food. We had to check in with family through the internet at the library, unfortunately our motel doesn¢t have wifi and neither of our phones have service here. But everything is so close and the Ministry, the library, the coffee shop, and the welcome center all have free wifi for hikers to use.
Date: 2015-04-15
From: Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday was our second zero day on the trail and we spent the whole time running errands and eating. All the shops close between 3 and 5 here so we had to make sure to get everywhere in time.In between errands we would eat at the diner or get some latte at the coffee shop and use the wifi there to update this journal and connect with family. Unfortunately we have no phone service on either of our phones here.This morning we had planned to go back on the trail, but after our breakfast we decided to stay another day to finally catch up with our Journal entries,and download our pictures since that always takes a long time and here they actually have good wifi which is hard to find.