morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-04-18
From: .4 Miles South of Sassafras Gap, GA

To: Top of Georgia Hostel, Dick's Creek Gap, GA
Miles today: 6.8

(Day 6) - I'm resting at the Top of Georgia Hostel after a short day on the Trail. I walked from mile 62.8 (south of Sassafras Gap) to the road crossing at Dick's Creek Gap, than half a mile along the road down to the hostel. So to Trail mile 69.6, but only 6.8 miles progress today.I found the Trail friendly today. It was actually sunny today and, being Saturday too, there were other people out and about. One group stopped me and asked a few questions about my hike. They seemed to think I was making good progress. And I met another hiking couple who said they'd started out last Friday.When I picked up my food box there were also letters from Emily and Lena, with a photo of the two of them. How sweet! The food is going to be heavy again: five days' worth. Not sure how I'll do the stretches of 6 and 7 days of supplies. Will they even fit in my food bag?This hostel is fairly new. The bunk rooms are neat and tidy, with sunny windows. The gear shop, though obviously small, had some tent stakes. When I said 'But I don't need half a dozen, I only need three,' the guy in the shop tore the package open and charged me half the sticker price for half of the stakes. Neat! I don't believe the owner ("Sir Packs-A-Lot") is around, but he's got several friendly and helpful staff people on site. Well worth the $31.36 for a bunk, shower, and breakfast. They're saying tomorrow will bring a lot of rain.(Now averaging 11.6 miles per day.)
Date: 2015-04-19
From: Top of Georgia Hostel, Dick's Creek Gap, GA

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter, NC
Miles today: 11.8

Day 7 - Crossed into North Carolina at 12:42. Stopped at the shelter mostly due to the very heavy rain. Of course by the time I'm writing this it's stopped, but it's too late to go on now. Still, I think I am drying off way more than I would have if I'd hung the hammock in the woods.Anyway ... rain. That's today's story. A couple of big hills, too. And my knee is working well. There's chatter in the shelter at this point. It's pretty much full. Looked worse when I arrived, though. When I got here there was a huge crowd. But God is good, for in just a few minutes seven guys who had been taking up much of the room under the 'porch roof' hefted their packs and headed out into the rain. That left five others, and room enough for all of us inside. The seven guys were a group of family and long-time friends who take regular trips together, a week or whatever at a time.A little while back another guy from the hostel showed up. Surprised me, as I thought that everyone there was going to take a zero because of the weather forecast.I've missed the name of the guy from the hostel, but he's entertained us with a story about his "jet fuel" mixture he's using in his stove. I don't remember what all he ended up getting combined in his fuel canister but it's almost explosive. There's another guy who is carrying and eating only military MREs. He says they're tasty and provide the nutrition he needs, but they do leave behind a lot of trash (to carry out). If I have it right, he and his fiancee were hiking together, aiming to get married on Katahdin in early October, but she fell and injured her foot or ankle already back in Georgia. She got off the Trail after the couple days it took them to get to a road, and her parents have gotten her home by now. He's carrying on. Has a wedding to get to. Sightings include a large stand of Ground Cedar, and one Black Snake.(averaging 11.6 miles per day)
Date: 2015-04-22
From: Just short of Winding Stair Gap NC

To: Cold Spring Shelter camping area
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

Day 10 - Good hiking day. Wayah Bald had nice views. It was a long climb. Called Ann and sent stuff to the blog and Twitter. But now it's very windy, and I'm on a ridge, and there's something 'wrong' with the way I've got the fly rigged on my hammock. I don't really get it. I need to go online or talk with other hammock hangers to get it straight. I have the windward side down and tight, but could see under it which meant, too, that rain coming the other direction could blow in my face. So I clipped the fly to the hammock. And the leeward side blows out high. I thought I understood how it works, but I guess I don't. The short of it is that this could be a long, cold, semi-sleepless night.[In the morning I added: Boy, it was cold and windy last night! That entry shows it. BUT I slept pretty well.](avraging 12.56 miles per day)
Date: 2015-04-24
From: NOC - Nantahala Outdoor Center hostel

To: Brown Fork Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 12 - Best part of the day was walking down into one of the named gaps and seeing an older guy sitting on a log with his pack next to him. He greeted me, and since I needed a drink I took my pack off. We got to talking. He asked where I was from and I said Maryland. He asked if I had dug any ginseng there. I said no. Then he asked if I'd ever eaten ramps. i told him I did once, years ago, when I worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC. I thought that was a shorthand way of telling him I knew what they were. He asked if I wanted any and dug into his pack which was full of them. He gave me about a half a dozen. I asked how he liked to prepare them, and he gave me a recipe that involved just frying up some bacon and tossing in the ramps on top. He's 74 he said, and lived about a mile down the hill from the Trail. Said he'd seen 17 hikers that morning. Asked, too, if I'd seen any game. I hadn't. He seemed to think they were pretty scarce. Even turkeys; he wasn't hearing any. I regret not taking his picture.Anyway, it was a long hard day. Long uphills and not much water. There's a big crowd of young folk at the shelter with a campfire going, and though it's now 9:00 they're talking away full steam (though I know that could stop at the drop of a hat). They seem to all know each other from down the Trail, but, who knows, maybe they all just know how to strike up conversations and surface relationships on the fly. Two or three came in after me. And I got here around 5:30, I think.Supposed to start raining around midnight and then be falling most of the day, but with the percentage dropping after noon. It actually doesn't make any difference to know all that, as I will be walking either way. There are still some hills between here and Fontana. only one ro two of these kids passed me today, so I'm not sure where they were last night. Probably tomorrow they all want to be in the "Fontana Hilton" shelter. I'm (unsurprisingly) not getting into the whole social side of things. It's been less than two weeks and I rarely see the same people in consecutive nights, or during consecutive days. Maybe as things eventually thin out or paces change.(averaging 12.75 per day)
Date: 2015-04-26
From: Fontana 

To: Russell Field Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light rain

Day 14 - So, last night's group at the Fontana Hilton hadn't warmed up when I wrote my journal entry. Or enough beer hadn't arrived yet. Or something. It was pretty active at dark; more people showed up at around 10 pm to loud greetings; and it wasn't until midnight that things quieted down for real. And I'd been trying to get to sleep since around dark.Before I forget it, I should note that up near the showers I saw a hammock hanging between trees (well, of course it was) and it had Christmas lights hanging inside along the ridge line. Everybody's got a schtick, and that must be his. Up there at the end of the picnic area parking lot is where the 'no alcohol' sign is. The one being completely ignored.One of the 10 pm arrivals squeezed himself in between me and another guy where there wasn't quite enough room, or just barely enough. Somehow or other there were (or seemed to be) people sleeping through it all. They must come from noisier homes than me. I felt like I was in a dorm at a state school. Ah, well. The social aspect of the Trail appeals to some people.I will admit that, yes, it'd be nice if people would greet me loudly by name when I arrived at a shelter. But that's not likely to happen. I did introduce myself to a couple people tonight. If I see them again maybe we'll say Hi. This sounds so junior high. But I don't make friends easily.Today began in such a fog that i could not see the Fontana Dam as I crossed it. I thought it would have been a good Flat George photo, with him commenting on his grist mill and how much water power was stored up behind this dam. But no photo. Then there was a long uphill into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A long cool slog. I understand that sometimes it's warm here in the South.This could be a shelter I stayed at with Ken and Kenn back in 1981 shortly before our Call Day at seminary. There's a sign saying 'Cade's Cove 5.1 miles' and I know we ended up at the Cove our last night out.I was able to send Ann a couple texts and call her today. There likely won't be lots of reception deeper into the Park.A ridgerunner at Mollies Ridge Shelter said that all the GSMNP shelters still have tarps across their fronts for another couple weeks. So they expect there could colder weather for a while yet. Also the next 3 miles to the next shelter is an easy walk, but then there's a tough climb. I have to look at it as a warm-up followed by the challenge. Maybe the weather will be drier and warmer.(averaging 12.8 per day)
Date: 2015-04-27
From: Russell Field Shelter

To: Siler's Bald Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 15 - Tomorrow we go over Clingman's Dome and pass the 200 mile mark. Today was a lot of walking. Had some nice views from some of the mountaintops. And I saw a couple survey markers that had us over 5000 feet at the time.Toward the end of the day there were acres of Spring Beauty in bloom under the trees, looking almost as if there had been a light snow. Chilly wind and sun all day. A good hike.Interesting that this part of the Trail, along the Tennessee-North Carolina border really seems to be without streams or springs right on the Trail (as we had further south).I was one of the first out of the shelter this morning and kept in the front 5 most of the day. The last 3 miles or so another half dozen passed me by,but there were still others coming in behind me. There are about 12 people inside the shelter, and we could fit a couple more in if we had to (or knew each other much better). And there are about a half dozen tents an hammocks, including the one hammock I saw at Fontana: the guy with a quilt underneath and lit up Christmas lights along his ridge line.Oh, and I took a picture of some lichen that looks like oak leaves. I remember seeing it in my book, but I've got no recall of the name. [Looked it up later at home and it seems to be Lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria); really something to look at!](averaging 12.98 miles per day)
Date: 2015-04-28
From: Siler's Bald Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: clear sky

Day 16 - Yes, Clingman's Dome was a big climb and a big descent, both. It reminded me a lot of Vermont. It had everything but the bunchberry. A bryologist could study a stump or a fallen log there for weeks or longer. It's a good thing I don't know my mosses, or it'd have taken me way longer to get up and over. I even heard a winter wren at the top of this the highest elevation the Trail passes over. (And, speaking of winter, there was frost on low-lying plants on the way up the mountain in the morning.) I took a Flat George picture up on the observation tower,and Zerah re-posted it from the library account.I met some other hikers up at the top, sitting on a low wall chatting and snacking. One of them was "Star Stuff" waiting for her partner "Swayze." We'd met at one of the shelters here in the Smokies and so we chatted a bit.It was a pretty long 15 miles all told today. I started about the usual time and didn't get to the shelter until 6:15. There were still 2 places left inside, which is okay with me because of the cold (and maybe rain) tonight. We've an 80% chance of rain tomorrow according to Weather Underground, which may mean hiking through fog all day. I think I can do about 12 miles to a shelter tomorrow, which may seem like a near-o to me after these 15 mile days.I seem to have a good connection here so I might call Ann in the morning.It's about 9:00 and the shelter's going to sleep so I shall turn off my headlamp and go to bed, too.(daily average of 13.14 miles as of today)
Date: 2015-04-29
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: light rain

Day 17 - Today was ups and downs. And ridge walking such that if you deviated 2 or 3 feet from the Trail to the left or right, you'd be rolling down the mountain. Really excellent hiking!Lots and lots of nice mosses and lichens. A guy could get lost studying them hereabouts.Maybe the hiking highlight was lunchtime. I pulled up at the junction of a side trail to a shelter. the shelter was .4 miles down hill, so nobody was going there just to have to hike back uphill almost a half a mile. There were 6 folks from the last couple shelters sitting there at the trail junction eating or cooking. I plopped down and pulled some things out of my food bag. One was a Zip-loc bag of peanut butter. After a minute, Star Stuff called over "Is that peanut butter?" "Yep." "That's such a good idea, putting it in bag!" [I've seen several other people with peanut butter jars which, of course, never compact to a smaller size and - if glass- are always threatening to break.] Then, at the end of my meal, I took a glug of olive oil from the plastic bottle of it that I carry, and she called over "Did you just take a drink of straight olive oil?" "Yes, I did." "You're such a bad ass hiker! I want to be like you when I grow up." Well, shucks. That's the kind of affirmation I like: unsolicited, enthusiastic, public, and from a young hiker who obviously does know what she's doing out here. [and ... if you guys are reading this, Hey! Let me know how your hike went.]I texted Ann that sitting there with them was sort of like having friends.Tomorrow's either 7.5 to Cosby Knob Shelter, or 14.8 to Davenport Gap Shelter. That would get me virtually to the end of GSMNP. Fine. BUT that shelter's got neither bear cables not privy. (Are they trying to discourage hikers from staying there?) AND my food box list say I'm not to the hostel (the Standing Bear Farm Hiker Hostel) just past there till 2 May. I wonder when the box will get there. I should call Ann in the morning and ask her.(Daily average 13.1 miles per day)
Date: 2015-04-30
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: light rain

Day 18 - Nice hike today. Seemed like a lot of flats, and like the ups and downs were graded not too steeply. I left my phone on to catch messages from Ann, since the last shelter had pretty much no signal. (This one has both voice/text and data.) So at some random point the phone chirped with a message that my food box should have been delivered today. Ann's been keeping track of my progress and adjusting mailing dates accordingly. She's so brilliant!Anyway, during the day I decided to stop here and eat what I could of the rest of my food tonight, and then go to the hostel in the morning, get my box, re-pack, and head out. It's still 4 miles to the hostel. I just figured it'd be jammed, and that I'd be that much more worn after what would have been a 19 mile day, and that I'd still have this extra food to consume. Still have to look ahead to see where I'll maybe end up tomorrow night. Staying at the hostel would cost a little, yeah, but if I only did 4 miles on the day I'd feel bad.Oh, this shelter also still has its bear cage! [that's a chain link fence covering the entire opening to the shelter, with the intention of keeping the bears separated from the hikers at night.] I thought they'd all been removed. With a sign saying "no cooking or eating in the shelter - odors attract bears." So, of course, we all cook and eat immediately outside the cage. I don't know if anyone tested the gate to see if it closes tightly. And this place has neither bear cables nor a privy. It's like they don't want people to stay here or something.Met another ridgerunner today. I didn't talk with her much, but she was pleasant.Going to try to post some photo to the blog. There are more people coming in, including some of the young folks from the last shelter. The gang I was getting to know (the early risers, mostly) all went on to the hostel.I found out at lunch at the shelter in mid-day that "Bull" [there were a couple different guys using that trail name, but I'd only met one at this time] was in ministry r a time, then the last 18 years was working for Ohio as a corrections chaplain. His wife died last year, so he's hiking now. Also "Trail Chef" is a Methodist lay minister doing supply preaching. He and his wife were Episcopalian but then became Methodists because of the liberal tendencies in the Episcopal Church.Well, as the evening wore on here a whole different crowd filtered in. Two slightly familiar faces, but this group is younger, more focused on party time, zero days, towns, pot, who has what gear, and so on. If I'd known I might have pushed on to the hostel. the shelter's full now. Lots of cooking and eating have been done (but not IN the shelter). There are a couple tenters. They've all been out longer than me, of course. But mostly they seem like they're here for the party and not for the long haul. Yes. I'm judging.(averaging 13.2 miles a day)
Date: 2015-05-01
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: broken clouds

Day 19 - So the big event of the day, I guess, was when I stopped in at the Standing Bear Hostel. Quite a vortex there, but I escaped it. Saw several people I knew. When I was walking in, though, I heard my name, "Concordia!" "Who's that?" "Star Stuff and Swayze. In the treehouse." And it was. One of the rooms at the hostel is a little treehouse above the small creek. Anyway, that was nice being spotted and greeted. I had a chat, too, with Trail Chef. I think they were all taking zero days. Red Squirrel was there too, but she's here at the shelter this evening having only been at the hostel one night.Found my food box at Standing Bear in a big pile of boxes inside a small room. I'm guessing that there must have been a lot of boxes left over even from last season, never picked up. Ants crawling all over a lot of the boxes, too. Paid my $3.00 to redeem it and bought a couple snack cakes from their storehouse of hiker junk food. After repacking my food and eating one of the pears Ann sent, I shouldered my pack and set off again.Sounds like more folks arriving here at the shelter -- with a dog -- so it could be crowded inside.My big thought for the day started with thinking about the kids at the shelter, all their chatter, and so on. Then I though, 'maybe it's like the Church,' all the 'hike your own hike' stuff, everyone on their own journey, mine so much better than theirs. Which would make me the Pharisee in the story, judging and measuring everyone else's hikes. And then I supposed I tend to do that in the actual Church, too. Or have done it. Ah, well.After Standing Bear it was mostly up and over one mountain, Snowbird. Had an FAA building on the top, doing whatever it is it does.I guess I'll take Saturday and Sunday to get to Hot Springs. My box might not arrive there until Monday. That's what Ann said the expected delivery date was. So maybe I'll arrive that morning, get the box, and spend the night.Hot Springs is 26.4 from here, so tomorrow I could get to Walnut Mountain Shelter (13.1), and on Sunday go to Deer Park Mountain Shelter (10 or so more). Then the 3 to Hot Springs.(averaging 13.06 per day)
Date: 2015-05-02
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: few clouds

Day 20 - Today's highlight was clearly getting up on Max Patch. Over the years I've heard/read lots of people swooning over this spot of earth. I was at the top just a couple minutes before noon, so I sat down and ate a lunch. There were picnickers and kite fliers, day hikers and long distance hikers, groups, couples, families, and people on their own. And it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day. What a view! 360 degrees of mountains. A real gem of a place.I'd spent some of my morning thinking, Ah, a sunny Saturday in May ... what a great time to provide a trail magic lunch at Max Patch for the hikers." Unfortunately nobody else seemed to be thinking that. Except I just overhead at the campfire that someone showed up there at 2:00 with pizzas and whatnot. So I missed it by being there a lunchtime. Ah, well! Probably all sausage and pepperoni pizzas anyway.After Max Patch there were hillsides of Trillium, white, red, pink, yellow and painted. All over the place. Quite something to behold.There's a guy who was at the shelter last night and made it in tonight (early), Thunder is his name. It seems he snores. anyway, he caught my ear last night saying that when he got to Neel Gap he sent home 45 pounds of gear. 45 pounds! And he's still carrying a ton. For instance, he has a tent and a hammock ... just in case When he got here after 13 miles -- his longest day on the Trail so far, he was almost done in. Told me it was his pack weight. He's 20 years out of the Army 9and I think he mentioned last night having been in Special Forces and a medic). Anyway, he's way overweight now, which can't make it any easier. Yet he carries on as we all do. All in our own ways.At the in between shelter I saw a dad and son, the son is 5 or 6 years old. Dad's got a huge pack. Son carries something in his own small pack. Hard to know if they're planning on going the distance. But they've made it to here. At the other shelter I heard Dad ask Son if he wanted "to eat this." Then quickly add "I didn't mean for you to spit out what you had. Look at that! See? Remember the time we ran out of food? We don't waste food, and this attracts bears." Like I said, it's hard to know how far they'll go. The offered food, by the way, was corn on the cob! Who carries corn on the cob on the Trail?Tomorrow for me will be a short day of only about 10 miles. Then Monday morning I'll tramp into Hot Springs. So is that one or two nearos? one for sure, Monday.I had a nice phone chat with Ann after supper. Had a nice trip to the Manada Plant Sale where she filled in as question answerer and advice giver.I saw lots of tiny crickets or grasshoppers along the Trail today, scattering for the leaves as I approached.(averaging 13.065 miles per day)
Date: 2015-05-18
From: on a ridge .6 miles south of TN-VA border

To: Ruby's Rest in Damascus, VA
Miles today: 4.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 36 - "Ruby's Rest" ... not a hostel or hotel; really a small house out behind a couple's house, sort of a Bed and Breakfast without the breakfast part; 13.03 miles average per day
Date: 2015-06-06
From: David and Mary's House

To: David and Mary's House
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Non-hiking day #2 since leaving Springer on 13 April. Spent the day with Ann, and David's family in Roanoke. Went to a farmer's market; ate a lot of ice cream; drank some beer; overate. Interestingly, my blood glucose readings were basically what they were back at home, which is to say, pretty normal. Go figure.
Date: 2015-06-26
From: Blackburn Trail Center's campground

To: Ed Garvey Shelter, MD
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 73: Getting to and through Harpers Ferry was a definite high point of the day.The morning for me was a long and fast slog trying to get to HF at the appointed time to meet my family. Ended up getting there right at 1:00, having said I'd be there between noon and one. Nice to see them and they seemed to think it was nice to see me, too.Ate with the family at a restaurant in the historic section of town, then back to the ATC headquarters for pictures (I was #888 in the album this year) and my food box.