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

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

It was really hard to leave the cabin. Rain was predicted all day and it was incredibly foggy and raining when we left. Got to the office to resupply snickers and check out. Headed to Mountain Crossings for more resupply then hiked out. The trail started as wet, then got slightly worse. You could see slide marks all over the place from previous hikers misfortunes. I was really careful of my foot placement because I don't have shoes that are waterproof and my feet stayed realitively dry. I passed the other Kristin a few times. Nothing really exciting during the hiking... it was too foggy for views and just was kinda miserable hiking.Got to low gap shelter around 3 and it was already full. Grabbed a tent site near the trail with Kristen and Brandone. Kevin and his dog Gus showed up later, as did Turtle and Zach. We all made dinner and got in our tents just as it started to downpour. I don't know what time of night this all happened, but my tent must have sprung a leak. I woke up to thunder and lightning and howling wind to find 4" of water at the foot of my tent. My sleeping bag was wet and my pad was soaked through, as was most of my stuff. I put my rainjacket over the leak and tried to go back to sleep... Mud and water were everywhere!
Date: 2013-03-24
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Unicoi Gap, GA
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up with an enormous puddle in my tent. I was expecting to see ducks! Must of my stuff was soaked, so the game plan was to hike a few miles to the next shelter, set up, and let everything dry out. When i got to the next shelter i ran into couch from the approach trail. He said he was going into hiawassee to dry out. We decided to split a room and then hiked out of the shelter. The 2 miles to the road was a straight mudslide, so ER more or less slid down the mountain into unicoi gap. I meet spark 2 fire, aka Leah and we chatted for a bit before our shuttle arrived for town. I was so tired i fell asleep on the 15 minute drive in. We got the last 2 written, nonsmoking room, so that made me happy. We went inside, unpacked and hung up gear to dry, then went to Daniel's ayce buffet. It was 8$! Not to shabby! I got a huge salad, fried chicken, fried ocra, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and 3 desserts and washed it down with 5 Cokes. Guess i was a little hungry! I went back to the room and feel asleep. Not a bad day!
Date: 2013-03-25
From: Hiawassee, GA

To: Hiawassee, GA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

I slept in until 9! That was an awesome treat :-) looked outside to see snow on the parking lot. Felt my gear and it was still wet and my tent still want fixed. Decided almost immediately to take the day off to fix gear and let things dry more. Went to south side diner to easy a delicious breakfast. I didn't realize how bad hikers stick out to the locals until today. People didn't even ask if we were hiking. They just knew. Went to ingles to get supplies and food then stopped at the outfitter to get seam seal for the tent. Went back to the room, set up my tent and seam sealed it like I've never seam sealed before. This thing should withstand a hurricane now! You aren't supposed to seam seal inside because of the fumes and i forgot to open a door. I was having a hard time concentrating and was getting a headache, so went went to dq for some ice cream and to let the room air out. Spent the rest of the day relaxing and snoozing. Had a Mikes grape punch then feel asleep at 8
Date: 2013-03-26
From: Hiawassee, GA

To: Dicks creek gap
Miles today: 16.6

So the original goal was to hike a little in the bad weather then relax at a campsite. Well, i got up and took a hot shower. Caught the pushed shuttle back to unicii gap and started hiking on the tails of Kristen and sparky. The wind and snow were pretty bad at points with up to 6 inch drifts. I say on top tray mountain and had a lunch of summer sausage and smoked gouda. I started hiking again only to have this guy come flying up behind me, saying hi as he left me in the dust. I caught up to him about 100 yards later. He wanted to know if i could take his picture next to a snowdrift. We got to talking, he said his name was Adam and he was with the warrior hikers. I was so excited! I really really wanted to catch up to then. The warrior hikers are a group of vets that are "walking off the war". it was an honor to meet him! He sounded surprised i knew about then without meeting any other hikers, i said i had found them on Facebook prior to starting NY hike. He hiked on later, i think i was slowing him down! Just after Adam let i meet back up with Kristen. Just as we started taking we ran into Adam again who gave me a warrior hiker patch! That was pretty awesome! I guess they're going to be in Franklin around the same time s we are. I'm going to try to stop by their area! Well, we got to sassafras really early, then got to the shelter really early. I was with Kristen and stargazer at this point. They suggested going for dicks creek gap and going back to hiawassee... Ok! It was still so cold out! We hiked some ridiculous miles and got to dicks cell gap around 6. My friend and family will be so excited to hear that i hitchhiked for the first time! The three if us got a nice engineer from the area driving a suburban with nice leather seats. I felt bad getting in and getting everything muddy. He knew we were hikers before we even told hime, asking if we were heading to Hiawassee. We couldn't have asked for a better first hitching experience!I might not be a thru hiker, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn express This place is great! They have really nice rooms, a pool, hot tub and a hot breakfast! We got up to the room then ordered a ridiculous ammount of food. Three of us had 7 burgers, 3 large fries, 1 milkshake, and 2 cokes. We ordered an extra large pizza and breadsticks for dessert. I can't wait to post the pictures from that night! We soaked in the hot tub until the staff kicked us out. I got my trailname today too! I'm now known as stretch. It started when we got into the room. I was complaining my hips hurt and we were working on stretches to make them feel better. They said I looked pretty flexible. Then in the hot tub someone asked if I could stick my foot behind my head. I said I'm sure I can, and did. The other hikers laughed and said I looked like stretch armstrong... and a trailname was born!
Date: 2013-03-27
From: Dicks creek gap

To: Bly Gap campsites
Miles today: 9.0

Woke up from my nice, warm bed, went downstairs and got a got breakfast of cinnamon buns, eggs and sausage. Not bad! Packed up our stuff and caught a shuttle back to dicks creek gap. The major milestone of the day.... MADE IT TO NC! When we arrived at the state line, jigsaw, snafu, and ref were there, along with piper. Got our pictures taken by the border at a tree with a pipe such in it. Everyone was flipping Georgia the bird and shouting profanities at it. I laughed... As i stood on the NC side...
Date: 2013-03-28
From: Bly Gap campsites

To: Beech campsites
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: broken clouds

Today was horrible... That's about the only way to describe it. It was definitely my worst day on the trail to date, both physically and mentally. I woke up and headed out to be grated with a huge hill covered in ice. Turns out, the snow from the previous days has not melted in NC, and from all the hikers walking over it, the snow had compacted to a huge ice slick, formerly known as the AT. It took me 3 hours to walk 3 miles. Every steep had to be carefully calculated and executed to prevent a potentially nasty fall. Nearly 90% of the trail was ice, the other 10% was a mud slide. It was a fairly short mileage day, but it felt like it took forever. I had pictures in my head of chopping down a blazed tree with a chainsaw... when i finally got to camp around 6, i quickly assembled my tent, made dinner, and fell asleep while it was stool light outside and with out hanging my food.
Date: 2013-03-29
From: Beech campsites

To: Rock Gap
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

For every second on that trail yesterday was horrible, today it was amazing! It felt like the wind was at my back all day. The terrain in NC is pretty awesome. It gently slopes and is very gradual compared to the steep mountainous terrain in GA. Most of the I've had melted and 90% of the trail was dirt again! I was hiking with Kristin and we did 7.5 miles by noon! We continued hiking till rock gap shelter, where Kristen anud Brandon were! I thought I'd lost then! As we were catchingup, we heard a young voice say "hey we have got dogs and beans" and looked over to see see a kid pointing toward the parking lot. We all looked at eachother and ran down, Brandon stopped filtering water mid-way. Sure enough there was a huge tent with a grill and the smell of hot dogsa gentleman named john said, "and i brought the beers" as he held out a bottle of ice cold Budweiser. The group with food is a local church group who originally planned on camping but said it was too cold. I had 2 amazing chili dogs with coleslaw, washed down with a beer and 2 homemade muffins for dessert. We all stood around chatting and saying our many thank yous. Kristin and i decided to go into Franklin, and the amazing church folks gave us a ride in. We got a hotel and settled in, when i turned on my phone, i had a message from couch who is at a hotel down the steer with hangman. We went and visited and laughed until it was 10, which in hiker world is 3 so we headed back and went to sleep. Yes... Today was a great day!
Date: 2013-03-30
From: Rock Gap

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 3.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Franklin, NC is an adorable town that i would love to visit again some day. Today they hosted their town's trail days. It was a wonderful afternoon that included bluegrass music, blackberry cobbler ice cream, and a tour of the town's old jail/gem museum. Exhausted and full, we switched lodging to stay with couch at the cabin above the sapphire in. For dinner, we tried out the Mexican restaurant across the street, including their amazing Margaritas. We went to the cabin to relax, then headed over to the sapphire to participate in the evening festivities. I ran into Adam, the warrior hiker i met earlier in the week, who much to my surprise, remembered me. We said our hellos again, then he introduced me to a large chunk of the other warrior hikers. Once again, it was an amazing privilege to meet them and get to chat. Around 11 pm, aka hiker 3 am, i walked back to the cabin, curled up on the love seat and fell asleep.
Date: 2013-03-31
From: Franklin, NC

To: Wayah picnic area
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Rain rain go away... Happy Freakin Easter... It downpoured all day. How miserable. Nothing exciting about the hiking really... Just more rain...Then, an Easter egg appeared reading "trail magic ahead". Just around thebend were... Wait, are those pop up tents and a radio!? Yes! I practically ran down the hill to see the tents, then heard "Jess!" It was Adam and the warrior hikers again! When i got to them, a tall guy with a beard was holding a beer and said "drink or food first?" What a decision! I grabbed a beer and went to stand by the fire they had blazing. The sunshine gang from the Midwest drove out here specifically to make hikers an Easter dinner consisting of ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, zucchini bread and beer. By the time i arrived they had already cooked 3 hams and fed an estimated 100 hikers. As i was setting up my tent for the night i got my first brief pang of homesickness as the radio played"you don't have to call me darlin, darling, you never even call me by my name" aka my works theme song. I miss lunches! As i went back up to the fire, a few people began playing the guitar and harmonica and any homesickness quickly faded away. I only went to bed after the rain started pouring down.
Date: 2013-04-01
From: Wayah picnic area

To: Tellico gap/ Aquone hostel
Miles today: 8.4

What an excellent morning! My tent survived the rainstorm without a single drop of water inside. I fused the sealing fiasco from earlier actually worked # i walked up to the campfire to fund coffee being brewed. "You drink coffee?" I was asked,"not really" i replied. 5 minutes later the put was ready and i was warming up with coffee that i don't drink :-) The sunshine gang even made eggs and bacon for everyone that spent the night! How amazing! I ate 2 servings then siren and i headed out. We hiked until we came up to a sign for Aquone hostel. It sounded amazing, so we called and arranged for a shuttle to meet us at the next gap. At 630 we were picked up by Wiggy a former thru hiker and driven 20, minutes to a gorgeous retreat. This place almost looked took nice to allow hikers to enter! The hostel was a picturesque cabin-looking lodge with soft bunks and scalding hot water. After a long shower, i ate a full pizza and crashed in my bunk. Goodnight!
Date: 2013-04-02
From: Tellico gap/ Aquone hostel

To: mile 142ish
Miles today: 0.0

Siren and i were over ambitious today with the goal of going into NOC and back out ofNOC. We started at tellico gap bright and early and began to descent from 4000+ ft to 1700 ft into the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Let me tell you, if you don't have bad knees already you will after that descent. As we lowered, we could see wild flowers blooming and butterflies fluttering around. A parking lot came into view and we truly thought it was heaven in earth....Until we walked closer.... NOC is like a mini outdoor amusement park. Apparently, minutes before our arrival, a train full of eager tourists was dropped off at NOC's front door. I had heard feast things about the burgers they served there, but had i known what lie in the restaurant, i would have avoided the place all together.At this point, we have pretty much been in the woods or very quiet small Towns for about 2 weeks. Walking into that restaurant was sensory overload in the worst way. A manager was screaming while waitresses tripped over eachother. Kids were screaming and there was a huge crowd at the bar. I found a few other hikers crammed in the corner and walked toward them. It was the only place in the entire restaurant to stand. "wow" one of them said. "yeah..." Was the only reply i could think of. After waiting in that mess for 30+ minutes i mage my way to a quite table by the river with my burger, fries, and angry orchard and watched the kayakers play in a hole near my bench. I was just thankful to be out of the crowd. After lunch, i ram to the general store and bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's Karmel sutra ice cream. After lunch, siren and i headed out toward the climb out of NOC that is just as long and steep as the descent in. The climb out seemed a bit easier, but we were losing steam fast toward the to of the mountain. Thankfully we ran into Brandon, Kristen, and Pattyman stealth camping around mile 142. We pitched our tents, chatted for a while, hung our bear bags, then drifted off to an exhausted sleep.
Date: 2013-04-03
From: mile 142ish

To: Stecoah Gap
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: overcast clouds

The sun was shining and birds were singing when we got up. It was a gorgeous day! We packed up camp and started to head out, and then began dragging badly. After 2 miles we arrived at the shelter where we took a break, then continued another mile to the bald and an amazing view. We say up there for over an hour enjoying the view, when OWF and Keeper, plus their 2 dogs sable and cannon arrived. We all headed out, siren and i still trudging along at a snails pace. Around 330 we finally arrived at the Stecoah gap parking lot. All i could think about was propping up my feet and taking a nap. As i was lying in the cool grass with my feet on the picnic table bench, i heard OWF and keeper playing rock, paper, scissors to decide if they were going to hitch into town to get fast food. A black pickup truck pulled in the parking lot just as keeper thrusts his fists in the air shouting "I lost!" meaning they were headed into town. A gray-hair gentleman got out of the truck and walked over to them. I heard then talking about the AT a bit, then heard then talking about Wendy's. As they were getting ready to leave, he looked at us and asked if we would like any brought back. Siren and i looked at eachother, then scrambled to throw our stuff in our packs, then jumped in and went with them. I got my burger with bacon, large fries and frosty and was never happier. The gentleman that picked us up was named Jim. He and his wife, Emily, were from the Atlanta area and had built a mountain house here in 2003. He said he wanted a beach house, she wanted a mountain house, and well, we saw who win :-) As we were finishing eating, Jim offered for us to stay with them for the night, saying he had 3 large king-sized beds. We all looked at eachother and started nodding. I couldn't stop giggling! The day had started slow with achy feet and was ending on a high note!We got in the truck and Jim drove us up a long, steep driveway to an amazing house tucked away in the mountains. It was an absolutely gorgeous home with high ceilings, tons of light, and a back wall made of sliding glass doors that overlooked the smokies. We all took hot showers. Siren made homemade lasagna as a sign of our thanks. She was holding out in me! It was great food! They gave us wine with dinner, and we sat and told stories about or hiking, upcoming Towns, and had an amazing time. The bed was so large and soft, i had a hard time falling asleep! Too much comfort :-) I can't thank Jim and Emily enough for their kindness and allowing us to enjoy their home! I fell asleep thinking that no wonder hikers have a hard time readjusting to normal society if people on the trail are this amazing!
Date: 2013-04-04
From: Stecoah Gap

To: Cable Run Shelter
Miles today: 8.5
Weather: snow

Holy cow. Rain rain and more rain. We woke up to a wonderful breakfast of eggs, ham, sausage, waffles, and toast and jam made by our wonderful hosts. Jim dropped me off at Stecoah Gap by my lonesome, while Siren took a zero in Robbinsville with Sparky, Runner-up and Pacemaker, and OWF and Keeper bought out the grocery store and headed to the Fontana Shelter to deliver some trail magic. As I started up Jacob's Ladder, and infamously steep area with many switchbacks, I wondered if I should have stayed in town with Siren. It was easy to take a step or 2 forward, and slide many steps backward. The pelting rain wasn't the worst part, it was more the icy wind that ripped over the ridgeline and right into my skin. My hands were numb. The only other hiker I encountered was French, who was trying to make it to the first shelter. Once we arrived at Brown Gap? Shelter, we started drying out gear and I saw Couch and Lao (who I met at the bash) in their sleeping bags along with about 5 other hikers. I let my stuff dry off a bit and decided to move on.After hiking forever in the rain and becoming thoroughly saturated, I arrived at Cable Run Shelther to find it full at 5 people, despite the listed capacity of 6. I looked around and saw some decent tenting, and decided to move on. Just as I was putting my pack on, one of the sleeping bags arose, it was Paddyman! I asked what time it was and said I was going to try to get to Fontana. He looked at me and said "No way Stretch, you're soaked". I felt horrible, but everyone was awake at this point (it was 3:30 PM) and agreed to move over to allow me room. Around 6 everyone woke up from their naps. The other 5 occupants were Paddyman (NOBO), U-Haul and Biggie Smalls (SOBO), and two section hikers out for their first night. We all told stories, made dinner, dried out a little and laughed, then fell asleep around dark.
Date: 2013-04-05
From: Cable Run Shelter

To: Fontana Hilton
Miles today: 6.6

First off, let me tell you the Fontana Hilton is the name of the Shelter at the Fontana dam, NOT an actual Hilton Hotel.When we got up, everything was still pretty soaked through. I put on my wet socks and shoes and ran toward Fontana. I got there around noon to find that rt 28 was not traveled very frequently and hitching was going to be a challenge. I walked about 1/2 a mile toward Fontana when a friendly TVA dam employee picked me up. That was pretty neat, because he gave me a history lesson of the area and told me where everything was at. I got dropped off at the general store and did a resupply consisting of high calorie pasteries and powerbars. I walked outside to find the sun shining and the temperatures finally rising! I threw my laundry in the laundry machines and walked down to the Fontana Pit stop and got a Coke, nachos, and an ice cream cone for lunch. I walked to a sunny field and ate my lunch and made a few phone calls. As I was finishing up my last call, I saw Siren in a pickup that was coming into the parking lot. She was heading to the post office to pick up her mandolin. We met up with French and had dinner at the Wildwood Grill. Delicious!Afterward, we tried to get a hitch from one of the many VW's that were in town for some sort of convention. We were unsuccessful until a white SUV pulled up... but it was the shuttle with French yelling out the window "get in!". He payed for our shuttle "so it was a hitch", which was very nice of him. We got dropped off at the marina and hiked the 2 miles to the shelter.The Fontana shelter is called the Hilton because it is AMAZING! It has a paved road leading to it with FLUSHING TOILETS AND FREE SHOWERS! It's HUGE and has a really nice view of the lake and a massive fire ring. There was still trail magic left over from OWF and Keeper, so I grabbed a Mellow Yellow and went to the fire pit to chat and enjoy my soda. The shelter was full with about 15 people tenting outside, so there was a lot of people to talk with and enjoy the night. At about dark I went to bed... or tried. A "gentleman" sleeping directly next to me decided to allow his dog in the shelter... who barked and growled every time someone moved, entered, or exited. With 20 people in the shelter, I didn't get much sleep.
Date: 2013-04-06
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Russel Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.8

We're in the Smoky's!This morning I was so drowsy due to lack of sleep. I got up, packed, and left the Hilton ASAP, crossing over the Fontana Dam and into GSMNP. It was a day of straight up... yikes. I felt like I sprinted up the hill and had lunch at the fire tower. What a scary place! There were bolts missing in nearly every step and the tower had a decayed floor with nearly 4 pieces of plywood rotting away. I walked up and ran down, just to avoid collapse. As I arrived at the first shelter, Mollies Ridge, I was met by a friendly Ridge Runner asking if I had deposited my permit and what state I was from. I answered and had lunch, waiting for Siren to arrive. When she showed up we decided to hike to the second shelter, Russel Field. We arrived and were met by a large group, including Hans Colo, Mountain Goat, Road Runner, CBW, Lao, Coach, Crash, and others. The shelter was a gorgeous stone building with a nice skylight and tarps to keep out the cold.I staked out my place in the shelter, ate dinner, hung my food and "smelly" items on the bear cables and passed out. Many thanks to Monk, who knew I was tired and encouraged the other hikers to "keep it down". I wouldn't have heard them if they were loud anyways, I was tired!