morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-07-01
From: Tri-corner knob shelter 

To: Chestnut Branch trail 
Miles today: 16.1
Weather: clear sky

Mega hike today but had no choice since Cosby Knob shelter was closed because of aggressive bear activity. Up early with clay, Melissa, Micheal and Sunshineven. Richard and I set off at 7:50am but knew it wouldn't be long before Michael and Sunshine passed us. We made very good time in the morning, had two steep climbs then a huge rocky decline. Not many views at all today good thing cos I was out of battery anyway. The last 3 miles were gruelling and it was only the thought of food, a shower and soft bed that kept me mindlessly putting one foot in front of the other. The small rocks (and large ones) just minced your feet and the steep downhill just jammed your knees with every step, I have never been so relieved to finish and be out of the smokies and it's mice ridden shelters.Melissa and Clay gave us a ride to Gatlinburg, Micheal and sunshine had already called a shuttle and left for their hotel. The 4 of us managed to get rooms at the Glenstone Lodge for $90 a night it was just off the strip too. We had forgotten it was 4th of July weekend and the huge number of people was a shock to the system after being in the woods with very few for so long but we managed to go eat at The Cherokee grill where we had steaks and veggies that were delish.Gatlinburg has many moonshine stores that give free tastings of all the flavours they sell-about 10 in all, Richard, Michael and Melissa tried them then we went to Dickson resort for regular drinks though Richard wanted to try the samples at the other places for free. We got back to the hotel around 11:45pm.
Date: 2016-07-02
From: Chestnut Branch trail 

To: Gatlinburg/pigeon Forge
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

The area is just packed with people and the traffic is unbelievable. Rented a car and went for a A&Web root beer float then met Melissa, Clay, Micheal and Sunshine at Joe's crabshack for lunch. Went to the Apple Barnes for dessert of fried apple pie and ice cream yum!Said goodbye to the other 4 of our hiker family as their hike was over and headed to NOC to look for a backpack as mine makes my shoulders burn.got a mini mo jet boil just like you Clay! and a few odds and ends but no backpacks that would fit me but they called around and they had an xsmall one at Nantahala NOC- Yes, we were there a few weeks ago but at least this time we could drive there instead of walking there.Had to move to a different hotel so booked in around 6pm, figured out how much food we needed for the next leg of the trail and went to Walmart and then did laundry didn't get back until midnight. Walmart is open 24hrsgood thing too cos it was packed at 10pm with long lines at all the checkouts.Just got into bed-yes, I said bed-ah! No hard ground but a lovely soft clean best hat doesn't squeak when I turn over and no mice.Had a good but busy zero and I'm exhausted it's 12:45am.
Date: 2016-07-04
From: Gatlinburg/pigeon Forge

To: Gatlinburg/pigeon Forge
Miles today: 0.0

Went to REI in Knoxville got new pants and lighter sleeping bag. Organised with the shuttle to be picked up at 10:30 tomorrow morning but we need to mail some stuff home first and take the rental car back. Packed our gear then did a final load of laundry and went for a dip in the hotel pool. Went out to watch the fireworks.
Date: 2016-07-05
From: Gatlinburg/pigeon Forge

To: Groundhog Creek sheltet
Miles today: 10.9

Up early checked out and went to ups to ship stuff home, wenthe to Shane's for breakfast and then to Walmart to get my wild hair cut again. Took the car back to Enterprise and the shuttle picked us up from there and dropped us at Davenport Gap. We started hiking South! I know, I did tell Richard we were going the wrong way but he insisted it was North and you know Richard! 1/2 a mile later just assumed it's starting to rain he realizes we are walking the wrong way! The first part of the hike was ok until it just pummeled us with rain and the thunder and lighting was horrendous, then we had a 5 mile hike up and up for 5 miles up snowbird mountain with thunder all the way but the rain did stop about 1/2 way up..too late then cos we were soaked to the skin. The shelter was tiny and dingy and if it hadn't been raining I would have got the tent out. The water was a country mile away and of course just as we were filling up the heavens opened and we were soaked to the skin again. There were a young couple and another guy staying oh yes I nearly forgot the privy was the tiniest one I've ever see, just like a bucket with a wooden box around it that wasn't even as high as my shoulders! Had dinner and all in bed by 8pm.
Date: 2016-07-06
From: Groundhog Creek sheltet

To: ROARING ROCK SHELTER
Miles today: 8.2

Not a bad hike first thing but from Hawks Roost Mountain it was straight up and straight down. It rained last night from about 3 to 9am so the ground was wet and slippery. No views until we got to Max Patch and then they were breath taking all around. I saw another bear today but this one must have read the memo cos he did as he was supposed to and took off running as soon as he saw me. We had dinner then the thunder started and it rained with high windschool that blew into the shelter. A guy arrived at around 7pm with a guitar that someone on the trail had given him. I didn't get much sleep with the wind and rain which finally let up around 5am. We all slept in until around 8am.
Date: 2016-07-07
From: ROARING ROCK SHELTER

To: Walnut mountain shelter
Miles today: 4.9
Weather: clear sky

Set off at 9:30 and did 4.5 miles by 11am. Stopped at Lemon Gap for a snack, we needed to refuel before the climb up to the shelter which actually ended up not being bad at all. The last 0.2 miles through the long grass was the worst. We were out of the trees on a bald summit and it was thundering and lightening, our hiking poles are wonderful lightening conductors! I ran like hello through that long grass praying there were no snakes in there. We got to the shelter and hiked a country mile down to the water as quick as we could cos we were already in the clouds and it was getting darker and darker, just made it back to the shelter and the heavens opened. That was at 12:30 so we thought we'd stay put until the rain stopped....9:30pm! The shelter was tiny..first 4 at a push but it had a very leaky roof. 7 day hikers arrived at around 2pm, 4 gave up on the hike and called for a ride back at lemon gap but the 3 others pushed on 7 miles further since they were already soaked they figured it didn't matter but there's no way I'd hike in that thunderstorm. Another guy Josh (Army-green beret) and his 2 dogs arrived around 6:30pm and stayed with us in the shelter- hooray I'll get some sleep tonight with 2 guard dogs to ward off the bears and hopefully the mice!Around 7:30 two couples and a young boy arrived but they put up tents down the hill cos it was too windy near the shelter.
Date: 2016-07-08
From: Walnut mountain shelter

To: Hot Springs River bank
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light rain

Up at around 5am, I thought with the dogs in the shelter I would have slept like a baby but no siree! Since the roof leaked we hung up a plastic sheet to try and funnel the water away from us all-huh! Wishful thinking, before Richard even got in his sleeping bag it was soaking wet. The mice stayed away from the dogs but that just meant we had them all...urghh I was swatting them away all night, but I wasn't worried about the bears! Set off at 8am and had a great day of hiking, got to Deer mountain shelter at 1pm that was 10miles in 5hrs! We had planned to stay at that shelter but it was even worse than the one the night before. The sleeping platform was so short last night that even i could not lie flat without my head hanging over but this shelter looked like it was built for 2 midgets who didn't mind getting drenched by the leaky roof. There was no way we wanted another night like last night so we had lunch, saw to our blisters that we got from wet boots and hence wet socks, and pushed on another 3.5 miles to a comfy bed in hot springs...or so we thought! It was stinking hot and by the time we got down the mountain and to the laughing heard hiker Hostel we were certainly ready for a shower, but not to be, the whole hostel had been rented out to Christian music festival goers so we couldn't even take a shower there. We tried every hostel, motel and hotel but no rooms were available. We couldn't even use the camp ground cos it was also reserved for festival goers only even though we could see an acre at least with no tents on. We were told to walk along the trail and camp on the trail near the river. This was Friday night and since the festival didn't end until Sunday we knew we wouldn't get a room or hot spring bath. The Hiker from roaring fork shelter was already there at the river so we chatted with him for a while and pitched our tent then went to eat at the Iron Horse station for a $13 burger but I had a salad cos I crave fruit and veggies so much. The WiFi was no good there so we moved to Spring Creek tavern and had delish pork crackling hot out of the oven mmmm! Then a thunderstorm hit and it rained until 9pm when we were finally able to feel our way to our tent cos we had not taken our head lamps with us.
Date: 2016-07-09
From: Hot Springs River bank

To: Pump gap loop trail
Miles today: 4.1

Up at 7pm, the festival band was right across the river from us so we had music blurring until 11pm then around 5am the festival early birds were hiking the trail and since we were camped on the trail they had to pass our tent so not too much sleep. We packed up the tent walked to the town and did laundry, waited for the outfitters to open and picked up the package James had mailed us. Took a much needed shower in the public showers behind the camp ground then went to Spring Creek tavern again for brunch and they let us charge our phones too. My salad was enormous as was Richard's burger but we managed to force it all down without too much trouble ha!ha!It was 3pm by the time we left hot springs and the climb out was straight up and it was stinking hot too, it seemed liked we climbed forever up lovers Leap, needless to say we didn't get very far but at least we got out of hot springs where I got the impression that we were not wanted, hiker season was over and it was now festival goers season. We just kept walking until we found water then just set up camp at the next flat area we saw. We were still full from brunch so hung our food bags and went to bed. Oh! One good thing from hot springs, I found a bag of Revels at the outfitters store so I ate them on the way up the mountain. I also bought some toe socks cos I was getting blisters between my toes ...love them! We both have blisters really for the first time since we started.
Date: 2016-07-10
From: Pump gap loop trail

To: Spring mountain shelter 
Miles today: 6.7

We had a lie in this morning, didn't get up until 8 and left camp around 10am. We only only had 6.7 miles to Hike so thought we'd be at the shelter around 1 or 2pm. Huh! You know that wasn't going to happen....it was a hellacious day, hot humid and oppressive with a long slow climb up Mill Ridge then up and up to round top Ridge then up another long slow climb to the shelter on top of Spring mountain. I swear they measure these bloody miles from the base of the mountain cos it felt like 10 miles not 6.7. We didn't get to camp until 4:30pm and we didn't even stop for lunch, we were so hot and exhausted we were not hungry.We met a lovely guy Patrick-trail name River, such a funny guy to talk to. Then a father and son arrived Patrick (yes another one) and Andrew. The dad held onto one of the logs on the roof of the shelter and a mouse ran out and nibbled on his fingers....that was it there was no way I was going to be nibbled on all night so we went up the hill to a lovely flat campsite and set up the tent with Richard chuntering and grumbling all the while, but no sooner did his head hit the pillow than he was snoring. We had spotty signal but managed to call James and got an email from my sister Lauren. How are you doing Lil bro? All recovered from your surgery? I don't know why I call him my little brother cos he's 6'4 or 6'5" and built like Mr atlas...well the Mr atlas who doesn't take steroids anyway, and I'm 5'2". My mother should have named him Gulliver since he towers above us all, he'll his feet were bigger than mine when he was born and I was 9 yes old! But he's still my favorite Lil bro. My big sister..yes, another oxymoron...she's 5' on a good day...hi Dawn, love you and my little sister...well she's little around 4'10 or 11 and that's in her big shoes...ha!ha! Love you cher. Hi Mr red shirt from Springer, I remember seeing you guys there too, yes loving the hike and certainly much harder than we had anticipated but seems like easier terrain coming uplease. We will never do this again so we are taking lots of time off to see places around the trail....just one big adventure holiday. Hi Marla, hi Kevin and Eric good to hear from you.
Date: 2016-07-11
From: Spring mountain shelter 

To: Hemlock hollow hostel
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Up at around 5:30am took the tent down walked to shelter and had breakfast and chatted with Pat, we need to look out for a blue tie die bandana that pat lost at Bald mountain shelter (his lucky bandana) which if I find I will hold ransom ha! Ha! Set off around 8am -yep! Up hill ...what else! Once we got up there though it wasn't too bad at all. We got to log cabin drive and decided to walk 0.6miles to the hostel. We were enticed by the pizza, icecream and burger signs...well they had them all but they were all frozen-not quite what we expected of the burgers but we ate them all the same. We got a couple of days food had a wonderful hot shower and decided to stay there the night the thought of a comfy bed was too much. We rented a cabin by the river for $50...had a double bed, porch, microwave and fridge but no phone service or WiFi but we did charge our phones. The girl at the hostel was lovely and they had a cute dog charlie, she drove us to Greenville (the girl, not the dog) to get diner had our pick of most fast food around but that was it, chose Hardee's and had a delish burger and shake. Spent the rest of the evening on the porch reading.
Date: 2016-07-12
From: Hemlock hollow hostel

To: Jerry cabin shelter 
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: broken clouds

Up at around 7am had a long hot shower..Oh what luxury in the morning. Had a bacon cheeseburger for breakfast- that's a first. I slept like a log last night which is a good thing cos the morning started with a 5 mile climb to camp Creek bald lookout tower then about 2.5 miles after that we hit the ridge. Now, the AWOL book described the ridge as rocky and strenuous, Well they were not wrong, it is definitely not a place to Hike if it's wet or icey though there is an inclement weather bypass but we wanted to see the views, mind we had no idea what mountain range we were looking at or even what state we were in cos some signs said NC and others TN? The hostel we stayed in last night was TN though. It was a hard 10 mile hike and made worse by the fact that every stream or piped water source was dry until we got to Jerry's cabin shelter boy we must have drank for about half an hour we were so parched.we were told the shelter had some kind of body mite so Richard didn't have a problem sleeping in the tent even though it was about to rain but we managed to get the tent up seconds before it chucked it down. We waited it out in the tent then around 7 as the rain stopped a section hiker chad arrived also parched. We cooked food and sat around chatting until 9:30pm.
Date: 2016-07-13
From: Jerry cabin shelter 

To: Hiker paradise hostel
Miles today: 9.5

Up and ready to leave at 8am- not too bad of a hike at all- up for the first mile but easy down after that. Chad hiked with us and we went to flint mt shelter for lunch...one of the nicer shelters. Got to Rector laurel Rd and saw signs for the Hiker paradise hostel-well it's certainly different but the owner Jerry was warm, welcoming and friendly as was his little boy George. We just got in and who did we bump into but our old pal Tony. Wow! We really thought he'd be long gone or working at the NOC what a lovely surprise. Chad was with us at the hostel and we spent our time doing laundry, writing this journal eating chatting and laughing. Bed at around 10:30pm.
Date: 2016-07-14
From: Hiker paradise hostel

To: Low gap campsite 
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Oh! What a day, it started great with a hot shower, unlimited real coffee and a sausage egg and cheese biscuit after a wonderful nights sleep. We said goodbye to Tony (again) and Chad, Richard and I set off- Yes, the usual morning chest expansion as we climbed 2000ft in 2 miles. I need a bigger set of lungs, no joke, it sounds like I'm gasping my last as I try to suckered in another breath before my lungs have finished inflatingredients from the last breath which makes such a weird sound it scares me sometimes, now Richard, Well he's the total opposite...I set out to tackle the mountain and while I may breath my last getting up when I finally get there I feel exhausted but also exhilarated, Richard doesn't get out of breath because he walks even slower, we sweat constantly cos it's hot and humid but it's rare to see Richard out of breath but it doesn't matter what your style (or lack of on my part) we both ends up at the same place at night.All the streams were dry today even at the hog back ridge shelter where we stopped for lunch. Chad was totally out of water, Richard gave him enough to get him to Sam's gap where he was getting off because of an injured knee. It was really hot and thankfully Chad and his mum got Richard and I some Blue Moon Water from a store near Sam's gap before we said goodbye and continued on.About a mile from Samsung gap we got some wonderful trail magic, Abby and Brady left a can of orange crush soda (my favorite) cooling in a stream..see pics, boy it was delish...thanks guys it was so kind and thoughtful of you. Not long after the magic ended as the storm clouds rolled in and the thunder rumbled. We managed to get the tent up before the storm and downpour hit at around 7:30pm but didn't have time to make dinner, it rained until around 10pm but by the time it stopped we were asleep so we had dinner.
Date: 2016-07-15
From: Low gap campsite 

To: No business knob shelter 
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We were up early this morning, starving from missing dinner last night, Richard had mashed potatoes and noodles for breakfast and I had 2 packets of oatmeal. Set off around 10am and it didn't take long for our boots to get soaked after last night's rain. Had some gorgeous views on bald Mt and got to the bald mountain shelter at around 11:30am. A father and son that had passed us last night were there for lunch also, we leap frogged with them for the rest of the day until they camped at Spivey gap. I was ready to camp after around 12 miles but Richard wanted to push on to no business knob shelter so that we only had a 6ish mile hike to the hostel in Erwin tomorrow. It was pretty easy going after we climbed out of Spivey gap and we hoofed it doing the last 2.5 miles in an hour. Got to the shelter around 7pm and since we were the only ones there and there was a big spider skeleton near the table I decided we needed the tent up in the shelter. We had dinner and were in the tent by 9:30pm but neither of us got to sleep until after 11pm.
Date: 2016-07-16
From: No business knob shelter 

To: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Up around 7am and broke camp around 8:30am. Nice easy hike down but did have a bit of a climb up, it poured down for the last mile though. Got to uncle Johnny's hostel around midday but it was full so they shuttled us to a nearby hotel. The mountain Inn and suites has a pool, spa, cooked breakfast and lovely comfy beds so way better than a hostel. The hostel hikers were going for dinner at 6pm so the shuttle swung by our hotel and picked us up on the way. We went to a delish by on Italian restaurant and luckily there was a liquor store next door so we got some wine. The meal was enormous but we ate every bit of it which really surprised the waiter until we told him we were hikers. The whole time were were in the restaurant it pummeled down with rain and thundered we waited for the rain to stop before making our way to Walmart where the hostel shuttle would pick us up.
Date: 2016-07-17
From: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 

To: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 
Miles today: 0.0

Oh boy! It felt so good to sleep in especially since the beds were so comfy. It's the first zero day we've had since the 4th of July. We went to the pool and hot tub, watched tv, did laundry and ordered pizza for dinner- a great zero day.
Date: 2016-07-18
From: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 

To: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 
Miles today: 0.0

Up around 8am, Went for breakfast then the pool and hot tub until around midday. The hostel shuttle picked us up around 1pm and took us to Walmart for our resupply. Bought a sub sandwiches and salad for dinner then went back to the hotel and packed our food etc. Another lazy day. Storms and heat advisory so we are staying another night.
Date: 2016-07-19
From: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 

To: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 
Miles today: 0.0

Up around 8am, Went for breakfast then the pool and hot tub until around midday. The hostel shuttle picked us up around 1pm and took us to Walmart for our resupply. Bought a sub sandwiches and salad for dinner then went back to the hotel and packed our food etc. Another lazy day. Storms and heat advisory so we are staying another night.
Date: 2016-07-20
From: Erwin-Mountain Inn and suites 

To: Curly Maple Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 4.3
Weather: clear sky

Up around 7am and had my last shower for a while...I know, sounds gross but a bush shower with wet wipes is it for a few Days!Johnny's wife Charlotte picked us up at around 9:30am, we went to the hostel to buy some dehydrated meals oh! And i bought a raspberry crumble just in case we are at a shelter on Richards birthday, and paid for our shuttle rides.We had planned on hiking to the beauty spot gap but when we got to curly Maple shelter some guys there told us that a group of scouts stayed at beauty spot gap and all their poles were stolen and also a backpack, apparently the campground is close to a road and theft is a problem there, so we decided to stay at curly and have a short day. Saw 4 hikers nobo and 1 sobo so even though the bubble is long gone the trail is still quite busy but we were the only ones staying at curly so we put up the tent in the shelter.
Date: 2016-07-21
From: Curly Maple Gap Shelter 

To: Cherry gap 
Miles today: 12.8

Up around 7am and had a breakfast skillet yum! Broke camp around 8:15a. It was all up hill, roots and rocks today...boy! what a day and to end it we had an awful hike up unaka mountain and an awful hike down and for someone who hates shelters I was so glad to see this one. When I put my boots on that morning they felt loose and comfy like slippers but after 12.8 rocky rooty miles it felt like I'd hiked in 5 inch tight heels my feet were just throbbing.Sailor Pete was at the shelter but had seen mice so decided to tent outside but you know Richard so we slept in our tent in the shelter.