morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-07-06
From: Camp at 1112 miles

To: Darlington Shelter
Miles today: 23.0
Weather: few clouds

Lomg day. Terrain was flat, but much of it in corn fields and other areas exposed to the merciless summer sun. Over 90 degrees today. Some like the wide open spaces of fields and farms, not me, give me the woods. The last mile and half or so was uphill in the woods, and actually welcomed the climb. It seems strange, but I was getting tired of boring flat terrain. Remind me of that when I hit the Whites !!!!I am at mile 1135, maybe this weekend I will try to update the mileage. Other than an irritating pinky toe on my right foot, I'm feeling great. Thanks to everyone for your support, when I have time I will reply to very generous comments I have received. As any hiker will tell you, sometimes a kind word of encouragement is all that's needed to get you up the next mountain.You all have gotten me up a few mountains, thanks !!!!
Date: 2016-07-17
From: Campsite near mile 1263

To: Wind Gap, PA 
Miles today: 736.5
Weather: clear sky

I am taking my midway break now. Three zeroes then back on the trail. I will be updating my journal over the next couple days.The hike continues to go well, but I am ready to get out of Pennsylvania. The rocks are different than I expected. I thought it would be miles and miles of just rocks, no trail, but instead it is mostly smooth, and flat with area of intense rock climbing and bouldering.The real issue has been 90 degree heat and scarce water. In Northern PA it is common for a water source to be at least 1/2 mile off trail, and they are now often dry.The climb out of Lehigh Gap was the most intense and challenging of the entire hike.Forget the Virginia Blues, I had me a case of the Pennsylvania Blues. This break is just what I needed.
Date: 2016-08-18
From: Wind Gap, PA 

To: Stratton Mountain
Miles today: 358.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It's been awhile since I updated, but I'm still on trail and moving on. For more frequent updates you can "Like" my Facebook page: Brother Blood's 2016 AT Hike.I'm in Vermont at mile 1635 part way up Stratton Mountain, at a primative campsite with anice fire, and feeling great. It is so nice to be back at higher elevations at night, no bug net on hammock now, and nice cool, crisp mountain air.Tweeked my back back in New York. Vitamin I kept me doing miles, but sleeping was tough for about 5 nights. Had my first zero 2 days ago in over 300 miles. My body needed it.People in Connecticut were very nice, and really started feeling good there, back recovered and pace was good.The friends that did the first four days with me, Maverick and Silver Fox, flew up to bike a week with me. It's humbling to have people like them sharing my journey.I'll try to update more often, but until then, Brother Blood is heading up the next mountain !!!
Date: 2016-09-07
From: Hanover, NH

To: near Carter Notch Hut
Miles today: 128.0
Weather: clear sky

Last night I slept in a Twelve Tribes hostel in Lancaster, NH. Not my thing. The group was okay, I'm just not a hostel person. Almost out of the Whites, climbed Wildcat today, steep but not a real difficult climb. Currently at mile 1875 and looking forward to Southern Maine, the the turn for home. Looking at a completion date of October 4.Hard to believe I'll soon be in Maine. Looking forward to a zero in Gorham, NH Saturday.
Date: 2016-10-04
From: Birches Lean-To

To: Khatadin
Miles today: 314.1

I did it !!!On October 4th I woke at 4:30 am, enjoyed two last cups of coffee in my hammock, and headed out, in the dark to summit Khatadin.The finish was anticlimactic, since for me it was about the journey, not the destination. But I was certainly happy to have made it.I think part of it was that my body was beat, and with colder nights and shorter days, I was ready for the journey to end.I will be going back and updating details of my hike, and find me at Facebook: Search "Brother Blood".
Date: 2016-11-28
To: To the Class of 2017 & Beyond !
Miles today: 0.0

To all my fellow hikers preparing for the A.T. in 2017 or later. As a 2016 thru-hiker, I will not lay out a list things you "must" do. Nor will I offer unsolicited advice about my way was the right way. I know that it is true, that free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.Your journey is yours, enjoy it. Do it your way. I never had the lightest pack, and somehow made Katahdin carrying the backbreaking weight of an entire toothbrush, handle and all. I was never the first one up and leaving camp, I was almost always last.Not long into my hike I realized I would not being doing 20's on a regular basis.I thought I could finish in about 5 1/2 months, it took me 6 months and 1 week. But I got to see the colors change in Maine.I let go of first impressions, and got to know other hikers for who they really were. That's one piece of advice I will give.I can't tell what shoes or socks to wear, or what pack is best, or whether to tent or hammock. But I am happy to answer any questions you might have. Email: aleckohut@hotmail.comYour journey will be one of the awesome times of your lives, enjoy it your own way!!---Brother Blood
Date: 2016-04-25
Miles today: 0.0

Well, here it is, time to get back on the trail. In the past two years, I have done sections with my sisters. In 2014, I hiked about 1000 miles with my sister, Tracy McG (now Out on a Limb). In 2015, I hiked about 400 miles with another sister, Breezy. We have been joined at times by our youngest sister, Blondie. I have also hiked with my nephew and his girlfriend. This year didn't look very hopeful for hiking. My father-in-law had been in the hospital and needed a great deal of care, which I supply since I stopped working. Unfortunately, shortly after his 97th birthday, he passed away. While we miss him, we realize that he lived a long and mostly happy life. So I will be hiking this year after all. It has been hard to come to grips with all of the changes, and get ready to go. I will spend a weekend in Ohio visiting family, and then Breezy and I will head back out. See you out there.
Date: 2016-04-26
To: Copy/Paste
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I am experimenting with typing my journal on my cell phone. This has been an issue for me in the past because it used up too much battery. I am now typing it on a notepad app and should be able to copy it to the clipboard and then just paste it into my journal. I hope it works out as it will be much easier to update that way. (It works!!)
Date: 2016-04-28
To: Third Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, here it is... my third entry.Tomorrow I will leave for Ohio to visit family there and pick up Breezy.   I have my pack all done. It weighs more than I had hoped, but we are starting out with a six day food supply, so that accounts for a lot of the weight. That will go down each day. Phew!Congrats to Breezy's husband, Chuck, who retired today. Breezy is throwing a party for him, which I will be able to attend with my husband. We haven't been many places together in recent years because someone always needed to be at home with his parents. He will get to meet many new nephews and nieces. some of them are already teenagers. All of them are terrific. I always enjoy a chance to be around my Ohio family.After that, it's back home for one night and then we will be on our way. I am very excited about this year's hike through the Smokies and the southern part of the trail.
Date: 2016-05-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today Breezy and I are on our way to NC where we will stay with a friend overnight. Tomorrow we will go to Erwin TN to begin our hike south to Springer Mountain. After a weekend visit with family in Ohio, we started out this morning from my home in NJ. We have gone from the tense rush hour traffic of NJ, through PA, MD and WV. Now we are in the beautiful rolling hills of VA, with mountains on each side, in the middle of a torrential rain storm. We have many memories of hikes through the areas we now driving through.The rain got so bad that we pulled off to wait it out. We are keeping an eye on the parking lot in case the water gets deep.After the rain stopped we continued on through the rest of Virginia and into Tennessee. The mountains were beautiful. We finally arrived after driving nearly seven hundred miles. Our friend Chris made us vegetarian chili which was delicious and after a nice visit we are in bed and dreaming about starting our hike tomorrow. Tomorrow we will probably be dreaming about a warm, dry, soft bed.
Date: 2016-05-04
From: Erwin, TN

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: broken clouds

Breezy and I spent the morning getting ready to go, and Chris drove us back to Erwin. We all had lunch at Huddle House, and then said goodbye to Chris. The hike out of Erwin was steep and our packs were heavy with food. In addition, my lack of training really showed on the uphills. We did eventually make it to Temple Gap and then headed on to the shelter. There are a lot of people here, mostly thru hikers. We set up our tents and then threw our bear line. We are not very happy with it. A bear could easily get our food. After dinner of Subway sandwiches and a small orange, we are ready for bed. It is raining, so tomorrow we will carry wet tents. I am hoping to sleep well tonight in spite of the rain. It's great to be back on the trail.
Date: 2016-05-05
From: No Business Knob Shelter

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

Bald Mountain ShelterIt rained off and on for most of the night last night and got very chilly. No bears found our food so we had breakfast in our tents. The batteries in my headlamp died during the night. I had fresh batteries with me so I changed them this morning when I could see again. The day was very cold. We started out with a gentle climb and then crossed since beautiful streams and waterfalls. After Spivey Gap we started to climb. We had two very long and steep climbs. I am still running out of air on the steep climbs and had to go very slowly. We stopped at Whistling Gap campsite to get water. Other hikers warned us that it would be cold at the shelter buy we decided to continue. It was wicked weather over that mountain with a lot of wind, hail and snow. We had hoped to get a spot in the shelter but it is full, so we are back in our tents. It is still raining and snowing and we are very cold. Hopefully we will stay warm enough in our sleeping bags. Mine is a little wet from last night. We are eating a hot dinner in the tents.
Date: 2016-05-06
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: light rain

Through the night it started to snow a thick heavy snow. I woke up during the night feeling very cold and discovered that my tent wall was sitting on my back, full of snow which was melting onto my sleeping bag. I had to shake the whole tent to get the snow off. It happened several more times during the night. Breezy and I started warm enough but I had a lot of moisture on everything in my tent. When we got up it was beautiful out. We packed up and headed over Big Bald. It was in a cloud and the trail was mud and slush which made for slow going. We had lunch at Low Gap and then on to Sam's Gap. We passed a beautiful high meadow. Finally we headed up the last stretch to the shelter. We found the water source to be an extremely muddy hole but we got water for the night and made dinner. It is cold again but not as cold as last night.
Date: 2016-05-07
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Flint Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: clear sky

May 7. Flint Mountain Shelter. 8.8We got started a little late this morning because it was cold and we didn't want to get out of bed. The hiking was not as hard today. We stopped for lunch at a big rock with a little stream nearby. The weather was just beautiful. It warmed up and started to feel like spring again. Beautiful views and meadows all day and wildflowers all over the place. We stopped for water at a cascade and washed our faces and hands. Now we are at Flint Mountain Shelter. We got here early enough to have time to relax. It is still warm and very pleasant. Magic Man played us some tunes on his small guitar. He is practicing for Trail Days. It is a nice group here and we are sleeping in the shelter for a change.
Date: 2016-05-08
From: Flint Mountain Shelter

To: Jones Meadow
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning we expected Magic to get up at 5:30 because he said would but his alarm went off at 6:30 and the whole shelter got up. We had a steep climb from Flint Gap and then not too hard for a while. We climbed up Big Butt Mountain and went over a rock scramble. We stopped at Jerry Cabin Shelter for lunch. We heard about trail magic but we knew we would be too late. After lunch we headed up to Firescald Knob, which is actually about a mile and a half of difficult rock climbing on an exposed ridgeline. The views were wonderful. After coming back down we sat on a rock and a dog came along looking for food. He followed us quite a way until we came across a family hiking and they knew his owner. They took charge of him after that. We were pretty exhausted and started looking for a place to camp. We filled up on water at a spring and then carried it about another more until we found a campsite. Of course there is a nice little brook here so we didn't need to carry that water. We set up camp, had dinner and are in bed.
Date: 2016-05-09
From: Jones Meadow

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: overcast clouds

We had an early start this morning and were on the trail at 7:30. After a mile or so going up we started on a long downhill. As we got near Little Laurel Shelter, we started to encounter nobos on their way up. They had a long climb in getting of them. We stopped at the shelter for breakfast. We are out of our hard-boiled eggs and yogurt tubes, so we were down to breakfast bars. Afterwards we continued our long downhill to Allen Gap and then went a little ways down the road to Mom's, a little run down store. We got sodas and chips and say outside to eat. The owner, Duane, was very nice and told us his father had built the store. After lunch we had three very steep mountains to climb. Shortly afterwards we came to the shelter. We considered hiking on to a campsite but we were tired and decided to stay the night. We are staying in the shelter as it looks like it could rain. The group here tonight is fresh out of Hot Springs and full of energy but quite friendly. We are going to bed early and heading into town tomorrow.
Date: 2016-05-10
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We were the first people up in the shelter this morning but once one person is up everyone gets up soon afterwards. We headed out and started up our first mountain. About half way up we stopped at a campsite for breakfast. We could already see a lot of fire damage but the campsite wasn't burned. We were in great moods all day because we were heading into town. The hiking was fairly easy, mostly downhill. The nobos coming out of Hot Springs were having a difficult time with packs full of food and steep climbs. We stopped for lunch at a campsite overlooking Hot Springs and the French Broad River. We met some hikers there including Legs, who was downing a beer he had carried up the hill and didn't want to carry it any longer. I offered to carry the can back down for him. It was a steep and rocky climb down. The walk along the river was beautiful and relaxing, and we took our time. We watched a kayak lesson on the river. When we got into town we got a room at the Alpine Court. After showers and phone calls to home we went for a great dinner at the tavern and then to bed.
Date: 2016-05-11
From: Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: mist

It was just pouring this morning with lots of lightning. We could hardly even see the mountains. After some deliberation we decided to stay another night here. After waiting for a break in the rain we went over to the diner for breakfast. After breakfast we gathered together everything that could go into a washer and headed over to the laundry. We are going to get our Smoky Mountain permits this afternoon and head to the dollar store to get a free items for resupply. We want to go to the outfitter for a few items. I may get some gaiters to help my heels stay drier. Many people are heading out and many more have decided to stay. The weather calls for rain for a few days so we will all be getting wet anyway. I decided against the gaiters and got new socks with some extra padding thanks to the advice of the outfitter. Hopefully they will help. Breezy and I had another good dinner at the tavern. I repaired my raincoat zipper and made some phone calls. Soon it will be time for bed. We had fun in Hot Springs but we have to leave in the morning. If tomorrow is as pleasant as this evening it will be excellent hiking weather. I will update my journal again as soon as I can.
Date: 2016-05-12
From: Hot Springs

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

When we got up this morning it was raining again. We waited a little while for it to stop then went to the gas station for a breakfast sandwich. Since they didn't have any we went to the diner again. After breakfast we started uphill out of town. We made good time all morning. At lunchtime we stopped at a little campsite. The afternoon was a long, hard 4 mile climb up Bluff Mountain. At the top we started to hear thunder. Soon we were over the top and on our way down. We thought it would be easy going from there but we still had another climb in front of us to get to the shelter. We were lucky enough to get space inside. Just after we arrived it started to pour. All of the tenters came crowding into the shelter and it was difficult to move. We all waited out the storm and then we could cook our dinner. There are more showers expected tonight.
Date: 2016-05-13
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: overcast clouds

It rained heavily throughout last night but we were dry in the shelter. The rain was loud on the metal roof and there was a cold wind. When morning came, it was still raining heavily. We stayed in bed for a while and then got up and started packing. After breakfast the rain had stopped and we headed out. Today was mostly a downhill day with many long, steep descents. The highlight of the day was Max Patch, a beautiful, high, windy bald. The views were beautiful. Through most of the day we leapfrogged with a group of college students from Asheville. We lost them sometime after Max Patch. Tonight we are sleeping in our tents. The shelter is almost empty but the floor slants and we have heard talk of a lot of mice at this shelter. We are not expecting rain tonight. Tomorrow we will enter the Smokies.
Date: 2016-05-14
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: clear sky

Today was just a great day. We got up early. It got very cold through the night. We packed up and started right up Snowbird Mountain. We stopped for breakfast partway up and then continued to climb. Finally we reached the summit, which was a grassy bald with an FAA tower on top. The rest of the morning we hiked down the other side of Snowbird Mountain. We stopped for an early lunch at a little campsite. While we were there, a tree fell on the hillside above us. When we finally reached the bottom of the mountain, we detoured to Standing Bear Hostel. It is a rustic hostel with a bunkhouse, a treehouse and a cabin across the brook. We bought resupply items in their little store, along with frozen pizza and soda. We heated the pizza up in the kitchen and ate the whole thing. Then we packed up our things and headed for the Smokies. Once we got into the park we hiked another mile uphill to the shelter. The shelter is full tonight. We were surprised to find that there are no bear cables. Tomorrow we start our journey through the Smokies.
Date: 2016-05-15
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: few clouds

It was so cold this morning, we delayed getting up. The shelter was full and had a gate with a fence. It was not a comfortable night and I was glad to leave in the morning. We started up Mt. Cammerer and stopped for breakfast about an hour later. It was so cold we only stayed a few minutes before we had to get going. We stopped again about an hour later and finished eating. The hike up the mountain was not too hard and we made pretty good time. Lunch was at a trail intersection near the top. It was very busy with thru hikers, sectioners and dayhikers. We started hearing stories of an aggressive bear following hikers on the trail. Apparently there was a bear trying to get food off the bear cables at the shelter we are at tonight. So far we haven't seen it. The afternoon was pleasant and a little warmer. We spotted some horses at another trail intersection. It was a short day and we got to the shelter early, so got a good spot. The shelter is crowded with 16 people so far in a 12 person shelter. No one wants to sleep outside. A hiker was attacked by a bear in a hammock d down the trail. Many of the hikers here tonight were there when he was attacked. I am hoping we will not run into any bears but it sounds likely that we will.
Date: 2016-05-16
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Tri Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Another chilly night last night. The crowded shelter helped keep us warmer and we had a fire in the fireplace until it burned out. Everyone got up with the sunrise and it was beautiful. We had a short day so we cooked breakfast and had some coffee. One of the weekend hikers left his sleeping bag in the shelter. I'm sure he is missing it tonight. We climbed up Mt. Guyot today. We are much better at uphills and the views were so incredible that it was well worth the climb. We had a pleasant lunch at the Snake Den Ridge Trail intersection and then hiked a little further to the site of an old plane wreck. After that it was a pleasant hike to the shelter. We got here a little after 2:00. It seems a long time to spend at a shelter. The way the Smokies are set up you have to stay in the shelters so you have to decide on a longer day or a short one. We thought about going to the next shelter but that was the last place the bear who has been harassing hikers was seen. We have heard many stories about this bear and it seems to be becoming more aggressive. I hope we won't encounter it. We are running out of fuel for the stove and so are now eating our meals warm instead of hot, and no more coffee. Only one more day on the trail and we will be heading into Gatlinburg to resupply.