morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-03-23
From: Bly Gap

To: Carter Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Today had its ups and downs. And I¢m not just talking about ascents and descents on mountains. Today was our longest hiking day yet. We hiked 15.3 miles. The climb out of Bly Gap was steep. It was supposed to rain all day, so I was sweating quite a bit going up the bald. Thankfully, it didn¢t really rain at all today, but we kept on our rain gear just in case. As we headed into Deep Gap (yes, another Deep Gap, but this time in NC), we ran into a Boy Scout Troop heading up Standing Indian Mountain for an overnight camp out. They were a good group of boys and one of them even offered us some blueberries. The troop leader also offered to cook us dinner if we camped out on top of the mountain, but we had already decided to push on to Carter Gap. I was nervous about climbing Standing Indian because it was the tallest mountain yet at 5,498 ft, but it wasn¢t bad at all. The climb was very gradual; however, it was so foggy out, we couldn¢t see anything from the top. As we began our descent down the mountain, I started to feel kind of lightheaded, like I hadn¢t eaten in awhile and I felt myself getting weak. I had eaten just before we climbed Standing Indian, which was less than an hour before. I¢m not really sure what happened to me, but I was hoping I would see Miles stopped ahead of me at some point. When it was clear that he had gone all the way to Beech Gap, I had to sit down and eat something. I almost felt like I could have just collapsed on the side of the trail if I had walked any further. I ate some sausage and cheese and a Clif bar and then kept going. I did feel somewhat better, but for the rest of our hike to the shelter, I still felt sort of lightheaded. I¢m fine now, so I¢m not really sure what happened. I had been eating all day and drinking plenty of water. I wondered if it could be altitude sickness. Guess we¢ll find out tomorrow if it happens on our next big climb. We made it to Carter Gap Shelter, where we finally caught up with three guys we started with on the first day. They thought that we had blown by them, so they were surprised to see us. North Carolina has been beautiful so far and already seems more wild than Georgia. Not sure if it will stay that way though. The campsite here is awesome with lots of trees and very sheltered. The outside of my right foot has started to hurt. This is just what I was worried about when I was looking at shoes. I may need to make some adjustments with my insoles or maybe I should get some new shoes. We will see I suppose. We are currently sleeping near the loudest and most annoying snorer I have ever heard in my life. And I thought that the guys the other night were bad. This guy trumps them all. You could be 50 feet away and still hear this guy. Looks like another sleepless night for me!
Date: 2013-05-23
From: Pass Mountain Hut

To: Hogwallow Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Taking the weekend off in DC to hang out with friends! We are almost out of the Shenandoahs and hard to believe we are almost completely done hiking in Virginia. We have loved hiking in this beautiful state.I update my blog on Wordpress daily, so if you're interested in our hike, check out the blog: http://www.dirigobound.wordpress.com
Date: 2013-05-30
From: David Lesser Memorial Shelter

To: Ed Garvey Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We made it to Harpers Ferry!!! It's hot here so we are hanging out at the ATC headquarters in the AC. We are thru-hikers #252 and #253, a slight decrease from our starting numbers of #390 and #391. If you'd like to follow our thru-hike, please head over to my blog: http://www.dirigobound.wordpress.comHeading home to Maine!
Date: 2013-06-14
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Millbrook-Blairstown Road
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We are now in New Jersey! We're going to enjoy a nice weekend here with my parents who came down to visit us for my birthday this weekend. I'm really looking forward to the weekend with them.Head over to our blog if you'd like to read about our thru-hike. I update each day of our hike via Wordpress: http://www.dirigobound.wordpress.com
Date: 2013-03-16
To: Pondering
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I find myself both excited and apprehensive about the thru-hike. I am excited about all of the people that I will meet the wonderful sights that I will see and the memories that Erin and I will make together. I have read journals and heard about the challenges that we will face and part of me wonders if I can do this for six months. Part of me says "Heck Yes!" and that I have rarely met a challenge that I haven't been able to overcome and if it was just me I could probably wing thru it in 5 months easily. But another part says I have a wife along who hasn't had much outdoor experience except for some over nights and a couple of week long camping trips with the college and church retreat. Also the thought of having to hike in freezing rain as a possibility and snow while being possilby wet doesn't sound like much fun. But I have a destination, a dream and a promise to myself and I remember a verse in the Bible that goes something like "I can do ALL things through Christ Jesus that strengthens me" and I believe that this undertaking will make us stronger. I also remember the saying that "whatever that does not kill me will only make me stronger." Here is to our A.T. Thru-Hike and to a stronger us.David Lane
Date: 2013-04-12
To: Hikerhostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We are excited as we begin our adventure at the Hiker Hostel. We got a ride from a friend here from Uvalde, TX to the hostel and then unloaded all of our gear which included a camp toilet which turned out to be a great conversation piece. B-) LOL!! We met a number of cyclists who were riding the hill country along with a number of hikers - some all the way from England and Germany! Among these were Wicca Witch, James Kirk aka Turtle and Kelly O'Brian. It seemed like a long trip as we slept one night in the car and stayed another at a Motel 6. Erin was very excited not to have to sleep in the car again. Well, its off to bed to rest up before our big day.
Date: 2013-04-18
From: Lance Creek

To: Neel's Gap
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: overcast clouds

We packed up our gear and hiked to the Woods Hole Shelter where we cooked some lunch and got some water. I took a picture of a salamander who was walking in the icy water. When we got back to the trail I looked at the data book and saw the ammount of climb and decided due to Sassypants knee that we would take the Freeman Trail around Blood Mountain. The Freeman Trail is a very rugged trail and not very well maintained. I ended up loosing my side pack on the way and haven't seen it since. We arrived at Neels Gap right before dark and we met up with Mouse whisperer and Turtle.We talked to Pop Tart from England and some of the other hikers outside. When we walked in we were greeted with hot food and drink and we were in heaven! We had mac&cheese and tea.After laundry shared with Turtle and Mouse whisperer, and hot showers we again fit ourselves into a bunk and snuggled off to sleep to the sound of rain.
Date: 2013-04-25
From: Plumborchard Gap shelter

To: Muskrat Creek Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: clear sky

This morning we got Leo Justice's (Ron Burgundy's) email address ronburg(u?)endy@yahoo.com before he blazed down the trail in search of Jasmine & Boogie. The night before he shared how he had come across Jasmine freezing in the pouring rain and how he had thrown up a tarp and started a fire. They shared a tent to fend off the cold and had thrown her wet clothing over the fire on a string line. Later that night they noted that the fire had picked up and burned brighter for awhile throwing them some extra warmth but in the morning they were saddened to find that the cause of the blaze was Jasmine's clothing. They had caught fire and had burned during the night!Timeout said that that was an unusual way of picking up girls. Hanging up and then burning their clothing! :0 Jasmine had mentioned this earlier but I had forgotten it until this time.We started off in good spirits but soon after we had crossed the GA/SC line Sassypants had a nasty fall and I had to help her up. Some hikers including Jeff & Sue Ungerwhere actually partially unloaded her pack and carried it to the next shelter for us as I was already carrying most of the weight and didn't have room for more. They were wonderful trail angels. The climb out of Bly Gap was extremely hard. The mountain just kept going up very steeply with switchback after switch back. Sassypants cried a lot and got very angry at the mountain a lot and she got spunky and just kept climbing refusing to let the mountain get the best of her. Phoenix was wondering if she kept going up if we would run into ST. Peter and the pearly gates! We started going down and after awhile we were going back up again for another steep climb which mercifully was not as difficult as the first. Right before camp I spotted a short side trail up to a rock where I saw an unbelievable view where I could see all the way back to the lakes around Hiawassee. I took pictures and a video that I posted on facebook and youtube respectively. (facebook - David Alan Lane and youtube under crazydave 0866 ) I cooked and filtered the water while Sassypants got the bedding situated. We visited with Zoro, Turtle, Phoenix and Timeout. There were a number of tenters around the shelter including a father and son who took an interest in starting and keeping up the campfire. The son already around 10 was wanting to do a thru-hike of the trail. We signed the register and saw that Jasmine and Boogie had been through followed about 20 minutes later by Ron Burgundy flying to catch up. We crawled into bed and called it a day.
Date: 2013-04-27
From: Budget Inn - Franklin, NC

To: Budget Inn - Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It had rained all night and we took a short walk to the Country Kitchen, a new restaurant which had a very good breakfast. I had a waffle with pecans, blueberries, strawberries and chocolate chips along with eggs, sausage and juice. Sassypants had Eggs, Bacon, hashbrowns and toast with water. After breakfast we went back to the room where we lazed about all day until we took the shuttle first to the outfitter and then to Walmart where we picked up some supplies. At the Walmart was a Subway where we spit a BBQ chicken footlong along with chips, a drink and 3 double chocolate cookies. ! We watched more tv and did laundry while we listened to the rain drum on the roof making us sleepy so we went to bed.
Date: 2013-04-28
From: Budget Inn - Zero Day

To: Budget Inn - Zero Day 2
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

More Rain all day so I suited up in the Rain gear and trudged down to the Country Kitchen where I was saddened to see that it was closed on Sundays. :'( so I walked further down to the McDonald's and had the Big Deluxe Breakfast with orange juice and a mocha coffee. While I ate I saw a homeless man walk up to the family in the next table and give a young boy a matchbox car and then use this to mooch a breakfast sandwich and coffee from what looked like a church family. The gentleman complied and gave him the meal and he then sat down and ate the sausage off and went up and complained that he had gotten no meat on his biscuit! He complained to the other customers until they finally gave him another sausage to get rid of him. Apparently he is well known there and they tolerate him. On the way back I passed an Indian Ceremonial Mound right of the road and took pictures of the mound and the plaque and uploaded them to facebook ( David Alan Lane ) We rested and then ordered Dominoes for dinner and we watched more tv and then we had a brief worship service in our room with a bible reading, singing and prayer. We went out to see Oblivion ( Which was a very good movie ) and later we went out to a Tai Restaurant which was very good with Collin Gooder who had helped me move some audio lessions from my Android phone over to my mp3 player which only uses 1 AAA battery so I wouldn't use up my phone battery.
Date: 2013-04-30
From: Budget Inn - Zero Day 3

To: Siler Bald Shelter
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: overcast clouds

We got up at 6:30 to get ready for the 9:30 shuttle to Winding Stair Gap and we microwave omlets and some scramble bowls for breakfast. We put our packs together and loaded up on the shuttle with the other hikers including Zoro. The shuttle driver gave us words of wisdom on the way including the fact that there isn't much real resupply at Fontana Dam and that the last town of Robbinsville could be reached by a shuttle to stay at the San-Ran motel where there was good resupply options located at Stecoah Gap. We were dropped off and started our walk by a stream and over a bridge by a beautiful waterfall ( youtube - crazydave 0866 ) We hiked a short day to the Siler Bald Shelter which is a very beautiful location by several streams that combine into a larger one after they pass the trail lending background music to our location. There was a beautiful meadow by the shelter and we set up our bedding in the shelter and I started a campfire. Soon another hiker set up down the field and stayed for awhile before heading down the trail saying that more of his friends would follow soon after. 3 other hikers soon came along and camped in the field leaving the shelter to Sassypants and myself. We enjoyed the campfire and the company before taking to the comfort of our sleeping bag for the night.
Date: 2013-05-03
From: Nantahlala Outdoor Center

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center Zero Day 1
Miles today: 8.4
Weather: overcast clouds

We woke up and went to breakfast at the River's End Restaurant where we had a filling breakfast. We then upon hearing of the big storm heading our way booked our lodging until Monday morning. We did laundry with Magic Mike and met Alex and Lawrence doing theirs as well. We visited the outfitters and helped Magic Mike out with a new pair of shoes as his had blown out in a major way. I picked up a pair of knee braces as preventative medicine as I carry 55-60lbs in my pack. Sassypants likes her knee brace although she didn't like the idea at first. We met a group of hikers by the BBQ place and we ordered the 1/4 lb bbq plate which was very good. We found that there was a live concert by Audio Alliance for free there so we sat down with our friends including Zoro from Spain, Alex and Lawrence from Quebec, Catdog, Mack, String Bean, Smiley, Nanner and Ack. ( youtube video crazydave 0866 under Hikers at NOC ) The concert was good and we listened for a good while before heading to our room where we met Country Gold and found that he was our roommate in our 4 bunk room. We got situated and then went to bed.
Date: 2013-05-04
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center Zero Day 1

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center Zero Day 2
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

We ate breakfast at the River's End and had Sausage, Egg & cheese on Rye along with Tea and hot chocolate. We wandered around the store, outfitters, and adventure center before heading to the stone building where I decided to put more entrees into the journal. We split a 1/2 lb bbq plate with extra corn bread which was very filling and went back to our room to get out of the rain. At the outfitter we saw Nanner talking with some people and we walked over to say Hi! They were Ratman and Tumbler dispensing trail magic in the form of powdered drinks. They were thru-hikers previously and were good friends of Nanner and were coming to see him. They asked if we needed to go to town and then took us to Ingles for resupply, a wonderful trail magic for us. We found Icy hot knee braces for Sassypants for her sore knees. They said that they were in planning for the PCT in April and gave us their number. We went up to our rooms and rested for awhile. We made lots of phone calls to friends before showering and climbing into our bunk and going to sleep.
Date: 2013-05-05
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center Zero Day 2

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center zero day 3
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: drizzle

Sassy & I went to the River's End and had their biscuits and gravy and shared a short stack of pancakes. I had hot tea and Sassy had water with lemon. We had seen Country Gold and had joined him at his table and talked with him for awhile. I tried to call several churches as I wanted to go to church and worship with other believers but I couldn't find a ride. Erin and I got cabin fever due to the weather and got into an argument over nothing and so we each went our way to cool off. I went to the stone house to post more entries on trailjournals while sassy went and took a nap. After awhile we made up and went out to do laundry and eat dinner. After we had eaten we ran into Turtle and then Tang who had both been out in the storm which had dumped 4.5"+ in some areas on an already wet area! We had seen neither since Franklin. Turtle said he may have to leave the trail due to his father having to go into hospice. We put our packs together and prayed and went to bed looking forward to hitting the trail again.
Date: 2013-05-06
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center zero day 3

To: Sassafrass Gap Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

We ate breakfast at the River's End and then packed up our gear and started up the trail. It was a tough winding climb out of the NOC and Sassypants said that the climb was brutal and painful and she hated every uphill moment of it due to her knee injury and said she was particularly sassy that day and I agreed! There were some especially beautiful views as we climbed especially Cheoah bald where I took a video. We arrived at the Sassafras Gap shelter where we caught up to Country Gold, Nanner, Magic Mike, Lugnuts, Pooch, Kittycat and their dog Mountain Goat. We also saw Cowboy and several other hikers. It was a noisy potsmoking group in the shelter and we almost caught a contact buzz just by being in the loft. There were two hammocks and there was a competition to see which hammock would hold the most hikers without breaking and I think it was a tie as each held about 4 hikers as they puffed their way into a state of relaxation. It was loud so I ended up putting in my earplugs and listened to my lessons for a while and left them in as earplugs so I could sleep. I have downloaded lectures from the Great Courses on masters of strategy and Sun Tzu's Art of war as I am a lifetime member of the History Channel Magazine and saw the audio courses in their magazine. I love history, especially military history so I learn as I hike for an hour or two a day.
Date: 2013-05-07
From: Sassafrass Gap Shelter

To: San Ran Motel (Robbinsville)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

We woke up and cooked breakfast and helped Nanner pick up trash around the shelter. Nanner packed out a huge bag of trash as this was the messiest shelter we had encountered on the trail. :'( We packed up and hiked on and Sassypants had a couple of spills and I had my first fall when I came to a stone that was about 2.5 feet tall and there was a narrow step about halfway on the side of the rock. When I stepped there it was soft mud and my foot went out from under me and I flipped right off of the side of the trail where I fell about 4 feet where I landed on my pack like an upside down turtle! There were saplings that kept me from rolling down the side of the mountain and a pile of leaves that broke my fall so the only thing damaged was my pride. I had a hard time getting up but once on the trail we saw that I was o.k. and we moved on down the trail a bit more carefully. We decided to stop in at Robbinsville to resupply so we caught a ride at Stecoah Gap into town and we stayed at the San Ran Motel which was pretty decent. The owner runs a shuttle to the gap for 10pp. They have a Subway, Pharmacy, Ingles, two dollar stores and a number of restaurants. We ate at Subway and I did laundry and got supplies at Ingles while Sassypants showered and rested. That evening I arranged a shuttle to the Fontana Dam shelter for the next day and then we went to sleep.
Date: 2013-05-08
From: San Ran Motel (Robbinsville)

To: Fontana Dam Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We cooked a frozen breakfast and then waited for the shuttle from the Hiker's Inn Hostel and it was a quick ride and we were soon at the Fontana Hilton where we met up with Nanner, Crystal, Gunrunner, Magic Mike, Lugnuts, R2&D2 and several other hikers. It was hot so Nanner & I decided to go for a swim in Fontana lake so I put on some shorts and we went down the extremely steep trail to the lake below. I jumped in first and put on my poker face while he decided whether or not to jump in and after a couple of minutes he jumped in. When he came up he exclaimed that it was freezing cold, and it truly was! It had been hard to keep from shivering and having my teeth chatter but I had and so we swam for a few minutes and got out and headed up to the shelter. Crystal and another hiker jumped in as well after we did and it felt good. We had cereal and danishes for dinner and I charged the phones at the restrooms while sassy rested. We had to wait until late in the day to use the restrooms as they had just painted the stalls the day before and that night someone had used sharpies and marked the stalls! We were told that if that continued the restrooms and showers would be closed for good! Hikers need to respect private and park property and stop tagging there. We visited for awhile and then went to bed.
Date: 2013-05-09
From: Fontana Dam Shelter

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

We got up at 6 and got everything together. I wanted to get an early start and thought about getting a shuttle to the Entrance of the park but there was no cell phone service so we started walking. It was a beautiful day and the dam was awesome and I took a video as we walked across which included the huge spillway tunnels. We walked for awhile with Tinman and he was dragging from the party he had been the night before so I tossed him a 5 hour energy drink and he was very happy and as his energy returned he said that this line from Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings came to mind and he wished it on us. "May help (hope) come to you when you least expect it and need it most!" He then sped off into the distance and we continued our hike up, up, and on up the mountain. My favorite part of the day was when I dropped my pack and left sassy at the fork of the trail and went to climb up Shuckstack fire tower. This was the first time I climbed a fire tower and it was exhilarating and scary at the same time. I took several videos starting when I walked up and finishing when I arrived at the top of the tower. At the base of the tower was the remains of a cabin which included a cistern and a chimney. By the time we arrived at the shelter we were greeted with cheers from our friends and we were proud as it was our longest and hardest hike so far. We cooked and I played with the fire and got it going which impressed pyro and I then turned in and went to sleep.