morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-04-04
From: Siler Bald Summit 

To: Wesser Bald Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

Apr 4, 2016 - I hiked a pretty challenging 17 miles today to Wesser Bald Shelter at mile 131.4.Remember when I ran into Apostle last week? He had told me to look out for a woman named Jewels who was carrying a red Osprey. Today, I passed her and recognized her immediately. Better yet, she already knew I was Mountain Goat! We discovered during dinner that we can make quesadillas over the fire with foil. Game changer. We were so exhausted from our hike today that we were all in our tents before the sun went down. NOC tomorrow. I'll try to grab some pizza slices or pies, but, frankly, they don't have a lot of pizza down here. It's killing me. Not a single lake yet either...I'm dying for a shower. Actually, we did pass a lake today for the first time, but it was 5.7 miles off trail. Not cool.
Date: 2016-04-05
From: Wesser Bald Shelter 

To: Sassfras Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: broken clouds

Apr 5, 2016 - We're in a bit of a cold spell so the nights have consistently been dropping to around freezing - its supposed to be 17 on Friday. This motivates me to get my ass moving in the morning when the birds wake me up around 6:30 am. Peach and I dominated a quick six miles in under two hours to make it to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). The NOC is built on the edge of the Nantahala River and they specialize in water sports. There, I finally had the opportunity to do some laundry ($3) and take a shower ($2). This is easily the best $5 I've spent in a long time. The stink was so bad that when I got out of the shower, the fumes emanating from my body still caused my nose to wrinkle in discomfort. Hey, it's all relative and the nose does get used to it, believe it or not. Next up was a delicious meal at the River's End Restaurant. I crushed a 10" personal plain pie (which I'm counting as 5 regular slices, Tim, so my total is now 12), a side of saut©ed vegetables (I miss them so much I brought a pound of frozen brussel sprouts into the woods and just ate them when they defrosted), a "side" of tater tots that was served on a full size dinner plate, and two beers. For dessert, a pint of vanilla ice cream and a block of fudge. I was stuffed. All this and we hadn't even hit noon yet. Finally, we had our toughest climb of the trail so far to get to Sassafras Gap shelter - 3,000 feet of elevation spread across 7 miles of consistent uphill. It wouldn't have been horrible if I didn't have a brick in my stomach or Peach hadn't pressured me into starting the climb with a very unsatisfying IPA in hand given the circumstances. However, the beer was called Shiva, which called for a Shiva blast right there on the mountain. Once I got past the first mile without making a mess, the rest wasn't too bad. Survivor was our Good Samaritan of the day - after making the 7 mile climb, he turned back and helped a woman named Barbara make it up the mountain by carrying her pack the last mile. She said she wouldn't have made it without him. Good man. I met a few more people today including Monkey, Josh, John, Gucci, Twizzler (no he did not have Twizzlers at the time) and Mike, who gets bonus points for being Canadian. Unfortunately, we don't see a lot of these people again because we've been driving at a fast pace. Fortunately, we do get to meet all these great people. All in all, we hiked 12.6 miles today. Only 22 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains!
Date: 2016-04-06
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter 

To: Cable Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: clear sky

Apr 6, 2016 - Today was a fairly uneventful 15.2 miles. We discovered that the kid Gucci that we met last night drank directly from the stream and ended up running 7 miles back to the road throwing up the whole way. There have been rumors of norovirus spreading on the trail and this was the first case I heard of it. I snagged a spot in the Cable Gap shelter so I could avoid the rain that is supposed to come tonight. It's always a tough decision: rain or snoring? They're equally bad in my opinion. It's important to stay as clean as possible and always treat water. I met a few cool, new people tonight: Hot Toddy (she makes whiskey drinks by the same name), Yoshi (he and Princess Peach nearly went at it...but not really), Ankle Weights (a section hiker who brought s'mores), Sushi (he has sushi embroidered gaiters for some reason), Emma and Tony who are sorely in need of trail names, Mardi Gras, St. Nick, Steel, Cheshire, and Nightingale (this is a nice old man who has been accidentally diagnosing all these illnesses and problems the last two weeks), John and Helton. Survivor rolled into camp last as usual and we had been wondering what was taking home so long. As it turned out, a man in the parking lot 6 miles back lured him into his car and brought him to an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet and food shopping and then returned him to the trail. I nearly lost my shit when I heard this. Ridiculous. That could've been me if I walked just a bit slower. Fontana Village tomorrow. The picture is of Survivor in his bag cowboy camping on the summit of Siler Bald watching the sunrise.
Date: 2016-04-07
From: Cable Gab Shelter

To: Fontana Village 
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: light rain

Apr 7, 2016 - Five easy miles brought us near the Fontana Dam. The Killer Quad (it's corny, but I don't care) teamed up with John to split a room at the Fontana Lodge five ways. Seeing as the lake near the dam was the first body of water we've seen in 160+ miles, Peach and I stripped to our undies and vaulted over the side of the gangway into the frigid waters. Amazingly refreshing. We had to sprint back up the hill in our underwear to catch the shuttle that had arrived to take our group from the trail to the lodge. We managed to get there in time for breakfast so we ordered our eggs and breakfast meats. Peach asked the waitress for the beer list. She laughed. No one else laughed. Then she said, "Wait, for breakfast?" We just don't kid about such things. Fontana Village is a super super small town that is virtually dead in the winter. Without hikers, it literally doesn't exist. They had laundry, a general store, one bar that was also a gas station, two restaurants, a post office, one ice cream shop that was closed for the season, and, oddly enough, a mini golf course AND a disc golf course. I picked up the gigantic package from my mom that contained an insane amount of goodness. I had requested a small package of baby wipes and she supplied no less than 168. Between the wipes and homemade cookies and zucchini bread, she made all of us very happy. We ended up hosting a little party on the back porch of our hotel room. Josh, Helton, Barbara, Daniel, John, Firefly (she always hangs around the fire), Fish n Chips (he eats fish but no meat, but he's cool about it), Josh, and another Josh. Then, Trail Magic! The neighbor next door had her son complete the trail last year and they've become Trail Angels. They brought beer and leftover lemon meringue pie. They're just traveling the trail and passing out trail magic because they are caught up in the spirit of the whole endeavor. It's all part of the contagious culture that surrounds the trail. It's a completely different take on life that people live on a daily basis. It's not part of the real world, but it's their world and they love it. Right now and for the next 4 months, I'm a part of that world. They say time flies by when you're having fun. Well, I'm having an amazing time, but it feels like I've been out here for over a month. It's an odd feeling. Tomorrow, it's the Great Smoky Mountains!
Date: 2016-04-08
From: Fontana Village 

To: Fontana Village 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Apr 8, 2016 - Psych! We were completely ready to head out and continue hiking when the weather reports began to reach our ears. Temperatures in the teens, 50 mph winds, and up to a foot of snow in the Great Smoky Mountains. Despite this, our killer quad was still intent on hiking until the military guys waiting with us received orders from their superiors to stay put. It's a lot of fun to test yourself in extreme conditions, but with roads closed and potential rescue unlikely, we decided better safe than sorry. So, we booked another room at the Fontana Lodge and had our first zero.We filled the afternoon with beers, horseshoes, several meals, and then ended up in a game room that some other hikers discovered. We convinced the manager of the restaurant to go pick us up two cases from the general store that had already closed, and proceeded to play cornhole, air hockey, pool and ping pong. Peach and Survivor, unaware that we had secured beer already, hitched a ride to Bryson City, NC, 33 miles away to grab a case. The entire lodge was filled with hikers and it was basically one really large party. I also met a few new hikers: Liam, Casper (he always creeps up on people unintentionally and scares the crap out of them), Constantine, Tortuga (he actually looks like Steve the pirate from Dodgeball), and Melanie. The picture is of the killer quad as I am calling us. Left to right: Moonshine,Mountain Goat, Princess Peach, Survivor
Date: 2016-04-09
From: Fontana Village 

To: Mollies Ridge Shelter 
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: few clouds

Apr 9, 2016 - Saturday morning means one thing at Fontana Lodge: breakfast buffet. Rob Swonson said it best, "There is no sadness that can't be cured by breakfast food". A hangover isn't necessarily a sadness, but the saying still applies. After breakfast, we hopped on the shuttle and returned to Fontana Dam. The walk across the top of the dam led the killer quad to the southern terminus of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (see the picture of the four of us with the sign). Of course, this meant climbing over 3,000 feet of vertical just to get into the Smokies. That's not great for hangovers by the way. In the Smokies, the policy requires that shelters be completely filled with hikers before tents are set up. Shelters are definitely warmer, but the snoring is unbearable. I ended up tenting about 30 yards from the shelter and I still heard people snoring in there. Although 99% of hikers are excellent people, you do see some bad apples. This section hiker we met did nothing but complain about norovirus, the park's apparent lack of effort to prevent noro and openly disrespected the ridge runners who are simply there to help us and because they love the woods. I just know this guy was guilty of snoring, too, which is definitely the most egregious offense.
Date: 2016-04-10
From: Mt. Collins Shelter 

To: Mt. Collins Shelter 
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: clear sky

Apr 10, 2016 - Princess Peach and I had the bright idea to hike a pretty big day in order to situate ourselves 5 miles from Newfound Gap. Tomorrow, from the gap, we would catch a ride into nearby Gatlinburg to check out the Smoky Mountain Brewery. However, in order to make this plan work, we needed to hike 25.5 miles today. This was no ordinary 25.5 miles. The Great Smoky Mountains are ranked as some of the more challenging terrain on the entire AT and it is home to the highest mountain on the AT in Clingman's Dome. We climbed an estimated 6.000 feet in elevation while summiting Thunderhead Mountain, Silers Bald, Mt. Buckley (which I thought was Clingman's Dome only to realize it was a false summit), Clingman's Dome, and Mt. Collins. All summits were above 5300 feet. Even though Clingman's Dome is only 6,667 feet high, you can't help but feel like you're on top of the world when you're up there. It makes it all that much sweeter that I climbed up rather than drove up. There's a small parking lot near the summit where people can drive up and walk a few hundred yards to the top of a tower for a view. It's amazing hearing some of their conversations - a younger couple was actually complaining about walking up the paved, gradually inclined path to the summit. Walking up the mountain allowed me to watch the environment change with the elevation. Above 5300 feet, the rhododendrons and wildflowers gave way to conifers. An initial estimate had me thinking that the shelter we were walking to was only 2.5 miles past Clingman's. A sign near the summit indicated that it was actually 4 miles plus another half mile off trail to our destination. This was psychologically devastating. I was crazy exhausted, stumbling and slipping in mud, snow and ice (yes, in April) and had already fallen several times. I threw down my pole and swore pretty loudly alarming a few of the lazy people that drove to the summit. When I finally stumbled into the shelter a half hour before sunset, I realized we did way too much and I was lucky that I didn't get hurt. I was also insanely hungry. Breakfast, four lunches, snacks, and dinner just wasn't enough. Anyway, another 25.5 miles in the books and I'm over 200 miles!
Date: 2016-04-11
From: Mt Collins Shelter 

To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 4.9

Apr 11, 2016 - As is the case with most of our neros, Princess Peach and I hiked a quick 5 miles into Newfound Gap where we hoped to find a ride into Gatlinburg. The First Baptist Church was waiting for us with snacks and fruit. After talking to them briefly, we hopped on their shuttle and went into town. I had heard rumors of Gatlinburg's extravagance, but just driving 50 yards into this town felt surreal. The closest thing I can compare it to is one of those fake towns inside a Disney or Universal Studios theme park. Still, they had beer and good food, which already exceeds expectations in my book. We got in touch with Moonshine and Survivor and discovered they were on their way. Peach and I got settled at the Sydney James Mountain Lodge - we took advantage of their laundromat, jacuzzi, pool, and sauna. All of this for only $14 when the four of us split the bill. Next up, two scoops of homemade cookie dough ice cream and a half block of fudge, a foot long corn dog, pizza and a calzone at the Mellow Mushroom, beers at the Smoky Mountain Brewery (our second brewery stop on the 2,189 mile long crawl), and a resupply. I hadn't planned on resupplying, but I also hadn't planned on eating 6 days of food in 3 days. Unfortunately, on the way to dinner with Monkey (he retrieved his bear bag when it was stuck by climbing the tree), Shovel (he loves shoveling snow), Stumble, Dos Equis (he looks just like the most interesting man in the world) and Emma, Sushi told us in passing that he had just witnessed a local jump off the tower in the center of town and commit suicide. Messed up. After dinner, we aided our digestion with the free tastings at three of the moonshine distilleries in town. It was absolutely delicious. Tim Adams, the pizza slice count is up to 29.
Date: 2016-04-12
From: Newfound Gap 

To: Tricorner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

Apr 12, 2016 - The four of us stocked up one last time on the deluxe breakfast down the street before heading back to the trail at Newfound Gap. The shuttle back was already full so Peach and I put on our red clown noses that we bought at Walgreens to support a charity and attempted to hitch. An elderly couple were laughing as we climbed into the back of their pick up truck. The temperature was warmer this time (the difference in temperature between Gatlinburg and the mountains near Newfound Gap must have been 30 degrees without exaggeration), but this time we got rained on while in the truck bed. We ran into a few hikers in the parking lot - it's always weird how everybody flip flops because everyone hikes different distances on different days. You just never know when you're going to see someone again. I hiked 15.1 miles to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter and the place was a mob scene. There must have been about 50 hikers there. Moonshine, Survivor, and Peach decided to move on to the next shelter 7.7 miles away. No way! I stayed, fell asleep early and planned on catching them with a super early start in the morning.
Date: 2016-04-13
From: Tricorner Knob Shelter 

To: Campsite past Standing Bear Hostel
Miles today: 20.3

Apr 13, 2016 - As I woke up, the only sensation I registered was wetness. I thought pissed myself while sleeping but that didn't make any sense. It turns out I slept on the mouthpiece of my water hoser and two liters of water filled the bathtub floor of my tent. Ugh. It was before six, so I just packed all my wet equipment into my pack and started hiking to the next shelter 7.7 miles away where I hoped to catch Moonshine, Survivor and Princess Peach.When I arrived, I found a note pinned to the shelter sign from Peach saying they were still there. Not only had they waited for me, but they also had a small pile of food that two section hikers had donated. The day was definitely looking up. Another 10 miles and we exited the Great Smoky Mountains. Our permits required that we get through the Smokies in 8 days. We did it in 5 including our nero in Gatlinburg. Tugboat, a section hiker, was waiting for us at the northern terminus of the national park while he surveyed budding trees. He was a pleasant fellow that looked like Joe Pesci and even more pleasant because he had snacks for us in the bed of his truck. On the big mile days, my legs really start to cramp up, like 'amusement park' legs (my made up term for how your legs feel after walking around an amusement park all day) only much more severe. Eating food obviously helps, but Tugboat gave me my first soda, Mountain Dew, in years and it was amazing. Five minutes and it completely erased my amusement park legs. As unhealthy as my diet has become in this trip, I guess I was still subconsciously avoiding sugar due to the paleo diet I had followed for two years. Not anymore. I'm definitely less interested in the ingredients of my food and more focused on the macronutrients the food provides including carbohydrates. It's a necessary evil because I'm burning a ridiculous amount of calories every day. Probably the only disappointment on this trip so far has been the lack of wildlife. We had just been lamenting this fact to Tugboat and less than 2 miles later, I saw my first elk standing in a stream. It was so satisfying. Next up is a bear, hopefully. Two miles before our target campsite, we stopped by the Standing Bear hostel because Moonshine needed to pick up a package. The owner, Lumpy, was pleasant enough, but very sketchy. The whole place had a hillbilly feel to it. I wouldn't have been surprised to find a still and a few marijuana plants hidden somewhere especially after I noticed the plants growing in old hiker shoes. Still, we picked up beers, hot dogs and frozen breakfast biscuits that we cooked over the fire later that night. We took a quick rinse in the stream before our grueling two mile climb to our campsite. There we met a few more hikers: Cheeks (an English woman with cold cheeks), Sailor Pete (a veteran of the navy), Scooter, One Extra, Yellow Jacket, Iwoks (I originally thought this was because of those creatures in Star Wars, but it's not), Southpaw, and Fried Pickles. Crazy, 20.3 mile day, but well worth it.
Date: 2016-04-14
From: Campsite near Standing Bear 

To: Walnut Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: scattered clouds

Apr 14, 2016 - Today was a fairly uneventful 17.9 miles to Walnut Mountain Shelter. The terrain has certainly changed from ridge hiking in the Smokies to just continuous hills - we go up and then down all day. We're positioned about 13 miles from Hot Springs, NC so we will arrive tomorrow around midday just in time for Trailfest! My first huge hiker Woodstock will finally take place this weekend and should provide a solid preview of Trail Days (the largest festival) later in May. There will be a bluegrass band playing, cheap meals, plenty of outfitters and organizations that are sure to have trail magic. I will be partaking in the festivities on Saturday and early Sunday. Jimmy Kersch, a friend from UD that I traveled to Australia with for a study abroad program, put me in touch with his Uncle Paul who lives down here in Asheville, NC. He'll be hiking south from Hot Springs tomorrow morning with his dogs to meet me on the trail. He has generously offered to take me back to his home in Asheville tomorrow night for dinner, a shower and some beers. I'm pumped to meet him. Thanks, Jimmy, for putting me in touch. I had to tie a rope around my pants (which come with a belt, by the way) just to hold them up. Despite eating an absurd amount of food every day, I'm definitely losing weight. Standing Bear hostel had a scale - I weighed between 200-205 lbs before my trip. Three weeks in and (assuming this scale is somewhat accurate), I weighed 186 lbs with my clothes and trail shoes on. That's insane. The lack of upper body workouts definitely has me looking scrawny as hell, too. I met Little Santa, Lucky, Mover, and Marshmallow today.
Date: 2016-04-15
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter

To: Paul and Catherine Kersch's House in Fairview, NC
Miles today: 13.1

Apr 15, 2016 - The plan this morning was to leave Walnut Mountain Shelter around 8:30am and meet Paul and his two dogs, Ash and Atlas, as they hiked south along the trail. With about 5 miles left to go before Hot Springs, I saw the two dogs (see picture) and I sat down with Paul for some lunch. He had an extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a few packs of butterscotch krimpets that I quickly devoured. Hot Springs is a very small town nestled in a valley with the mighty French Broad River winding its way through the north end of town. It's a hiker town through and through with only the basics: two pubs, a post office, a few hostels, a hillbilly market, a tobacco shop, an outfitter, a general store, a school, a bank, and a dollar general. I picked up the massive and excessive package my mom generously sent me from the post office, sent home a pound and a half of winter gear and took a load off with some Yuenglings near Paul's car with the rest of the killer quad. Paul took me to Asheville on the way back to his home where we hopped from brewery to brewery for an hour. The city is flooded with craft beer from what has to be close to twenty breweries both large and small. I got to visit the French Broad Brewing Company and the Catawba Brewing Company. Paul and Catherine's quaint home is set in a suburb of Asheville that can hardly be called a suburb. The house is set on a hill in the woods with a ridiculous view of the sunrise. Beautiful hiking trails are as close as the bottom of their street. I haven't given a lot of though to where I would like to settle down, but this set up would be very difficult to turn down. I got set up in the bedroom downstairs, threw the laundry in, took a shower and then joined Paul and Catherine in the hot tub on their front lawn overlooking the mountains. Again, tough to beat, but my hosts certainly did their best during dinner: homemade burgers with blue cheese, a spicy side dish and best of all: fresh, grilled broccoli.Tomorrow, it's back to Hot Springs for my second zero of the trip. By the way, Tim, after Gatlinburg, I'm up to 28 slices of pizza.