morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-04-15
From: Walnut Mountain Shelter

To: Laughing Heart Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

Rule number one: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER try to cook food on a stove inside your tent. The reason for this is that many tents are highly flammable, and if you torch your tent while you are inside of it, the fact that you no longer have a tent is going to be the LEAST of your worries. But do not take MY word for it. Hell, just ask Nubs. He will be glad to tell you why this is not a very good idea. Rule number two ought to be: Do not begin hiking through the mountains of the AT in mid-February, another mistake Nubs made. He was hiking through 18 inches of snow, and he was just plain tired of being cold all the time. So he decided to take the risky shortcut of cooking dinner inside is tent. Unfortunately, Nubs did not cook dinner. Nubs cooked himself. On his right hand, three of his fingers are now burned down to the first knuckle. So Nubs went to his in-laws to recover. Regrettably, Nubs bad luck had not quite run its course. His inlaws had an elderly German Shepard, a dog so old it could barely walk. Nubs, feeling sorry for the poor animal, attempted to befriend the animal by petting it. The animal took exception to this familiarity and bit Nubs (fortunately on his OTHER hand). Nobody is suggesting that Nubs change his trail name to "Lucky."
Date: 2016-04-16
From: Laughing Heart Hiker Hostel

To: Laughing Heart Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Today is a rest day for me. By a lucky coincidence, May 15-17 is Trailfest 2016 in Hot Springs. Last night, I had an all you can eat spaghetti dinner, all you can eat $8.00. I will leave Sunday, April 17. I will ,,visit the all you can eat pancake breakfast, then climb out of this town. There is some free music today, so it should be a fun day.
Date: 2016-04-17
From: Laughing Heart Hiker Hostel

To: Laughing Heart Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

A few weeks ago, when I told my friends from my cycling organization (O2K) that I was going to hike the AT, I heard from 2 friends (Randal Johnson & Ron Molino) that the AT passed close to their homes in Virginia and Vermont, and to look them up when I got close to their homes. Regrettably, have lost their contact information. So gentlemen, if your generous offer still stands, could you please send me your contact info one more time, and this time, I promise not to lose it!
Date: 2016-04-19
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hiker Paradise Hiker Hostel 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

AS I said, yesterday was my toughest day so far. I began hiking at 8:00 AM, and did not finish until 5:45 PM. I was so beat that it was an effort to set up my tent, and cook and eat dinner, chores I normally relish. In my tent that night, I had to give myself a pep talk about how all AT hikers have very tough days. Yesterday, I reached 300- miles of hiking. I also got my first blister of the trip, which is not bad for 300 miles of hiking. I was the recipient of some trail magic yesterday. A middle aged couple handed out zuccini loafs to hikers. These were HUGE loafs. I had some for dinner last night, and some for both breakfast & lunch. The lady who gave me the treat warned me to watch out for rattlesnakes sunning themselves on the rocks. That sure got my attention! I kept a close lookout for rattlers, but thankfully, they made themselves scarce. It was a lucky thing. That zuccini bread was off the charts delicious, and I was damned if I was going to share it with a rattlesnake! Today, I was very sluggish as I hiked, and I think it was because I got dehydrated. When I arrived at camp yesterday, my throat was so dry I literally could not swallow. Today I have made a conscious effort to drink lots of water, and it seems to be working. I heard an interesting story the other day. In an earlier post, I told how a snowstorm had left the AT icy & treacherous. One lady was at Clingmans Dome (the highest point on the entire AT. It is in Great Smoky Mt. Natl. Park.) She slipped on the ice, fell on her forehead, and opened up a gash that was bleeding profusely. She attempted to staunch the blood flow with snow. This only worked up to a point. So an ever resourceful AT hiker whipped out his superglue (I kid you not) and glued the wound shut. A few days later the glue fell off, revealing a scab underneath! The lady who told this story remarked that she did not know if her superglue belonged in her repair kit or her first aid kit. One of the reasons I am attempting this hike is so I can ponder these great philisophical riddles.
Date: 2016-04-21
From: Sams Gap

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: clear sky

Another low mileage day, due to blister pain. I got some relief by sterilizing a safety pin, and then puncturing the blister, allowing the fluid inside the blister to drain. I met a young man at the shelter from Northern Ireland who is hiking the AT. Almost everyone who hikes the AT begins in Georgia, and hikes north to Maine. This young man started in Maine, and is hiking south to Georgia. He has only 300 miles to go, and he is finished. In the towns of Hot Springs and Erwin, ( 70 miles apart on the AT) there are hiker hostels. The two hiker hostels have an arrangement where any person who will carry a 5 pound rock that has the name of one of the hostels on it for the 70 miles between the 2 hostels will receive a free one night stay ( a $20 value)at the hostel, plus the plucky (and stupid) hiker will also receive the honor of having his/her name added to the rock with a black magic marker. When I told this story to another AT hiker, that man said that it would be very easy for a person to go to the post office in one town, and mail the rock to him/herself in the next town. I thought I was the only one twisted enough to have considered this way of beating the system!
Date: 2016-04-23
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel.
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: fog

It rained again last night. Today, it was very cloudy & overcast, so I hit the trail without eating breakfast (I had a cliff bar in my pocket, that I ate as I walked along.) My goal was to get as far as possible while it was dry. I was blessed with weather that was both dry & cool, PERFECT hiking weather that lasted the entire downhill walk into town. All week long, I have been looking forward to the free picnic a local Baptist church has been promising the hikers. These WONDERFUL people did not provide a picnic; they provided a FEAST. Hot dogs, hamburgers, the BEST baked beans I have ever eaten, green beans, pasta, and about twenty different delicious desserts. All for free. We hikers were so grateful, we thanked the church people over and over again. The party was from noon to five PM. The church people told us we were welcome to return a second time for dinner. I fully intended to do so, but my stomach has shrunk, and I had no appetite for dinner! I stepped on the hostel scale. It said I weighed 145 pounds. HA! Everybody says the hostel scale is INCREDIBLY kind. However, I have lost some weight on the hike. I am REALLY looking forward to a zero day (no hiking) tomorrow.
Date: 2016-04-24
From: Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel.

To: Rest Day
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

It is an irony, but zero days(i.e. rest days)are far more stressful for me than hiking days, due to the fact that I have so many chores to do prior to getting back on the trail. It rained the day before I got to the hiker hostel, and I did not have a chance to dry out my ground cloth, tent, or sleeping bag. All were wet to one degree or another, and they were starting to smell really bad (then again, I hadn't had a shower in several days, so maybe it was ME, and not my gear exuding that foul stench.) My hunch was that both myself and my gear were contributing more than our fair share to the funk machine, so I tied a piece of rope between 2 trees and dried out my tent, sleeping bag, and ground cloth, and took a scalding hot shower (I never actually got INTO the shower, but the water was turned on as hot as it would go. I hope the steam did me some good!) I then went into town and bought food for the next leg of my hike. I also had to do laundry. There is only one washing machine at the hiker hostel, and MOBS of people staying here, so I waited most of the day, until it was FINALLY my turn. While waiting for my laundry to finish, I glanced down at my right foot (where I had punctured and drained a blister a few days ago) and was horrified to discover that my foot was an angry red color, and my foot was so swollen that I could barely see my ankle. I was scheduled to return to the AT this morning. Instead, I paid a visit to the urgent care center, where the doctor confirmed my fears. I have an infection. The doctor told me I can't hike until Thursday morning. He also gave me 10 days worth of antibiotics, and told me to keep my foot elevated. So I am staring at my foot, trying to will the swelling/diecoloration away, but I guess that is the job of the antibiotics. I really relish a zero day, but when the zero day is finished, I am also happy to be back on the AT again. The next 2 days are going to be very boring for me.
Date: 2016-04-27
From: Uncle Johnnys Hiker Hostel

To: Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: fog

Yippee! Today is my last day for not hiking due to my blister infection. Two notable things happened today:1) There was a WICKED thunderstorm last night. The lightening lit up my tent like it was broad daylight. My tent is seamsealed, so I was dry inside. However, the tent walls were soaked, and my sleeping bag touched the tent walls, so the end of the sleeping bag was slightly wet. Also, a few of my clothes got wet. The moral of this story is that one day/night of rain will not result in gear getting wet if you are careful. With each additional day of rain, more and more of your stuff gets wet, no matter how careful you are. My most important piece of gear in terms of needing to be dry is my sleeping bag. I have a stuff sack made of Cuban fiber that I am counting on to keep my sleeping bag dry in a multiday rain 2) Yesterday, a big group of twenty somethings who all knew each other arrived at the hiker hostel, intending to have a whisky party, followed by a zero day (no hiking) the next day.. I was in my tent, listening to them hooting and hollering at 2:00A.M. The party finally ended, and they all drifted (staggered) to their tents. One fellow lay in his tent, groaning loudly. I assumed he was groaning from being intoxicated. One of his buddies was not as charitable, and she SCREAMED out, "Hey, Bob, why are you moaning in your tent? Are you masturbating?" If only I had had a recording device, and their parents'addresses. I could have made a FORTUNE in hush money!
Date: 2016-04-28
From: Uncle Johnny's Hiker Hostel

To: Campsite At Mile Marker 354.4
Miles today: 12.3
Weather: clear sky

I am absolutely ASTOUNDED at the generosity of total strangers for AT hikers. I experienced Trail Magic TWICE today. The first time was a man who offered some of the best brownies imaginable, or zuccini bread, plus beverages. He said he is a Catholic, and he is doing this because he knows that Jesus would offer Trail Magic to hikers if he were still on Earth. )The Baptist Church that threw us a free picnic gave the same reason for their incredible generosity.) The second instance of Trail Magic was so INCREDIBLY generous, that had I not personally experienced it, I would not have believed it. I arrived at 2:00PM< and they offered me a cheeseburger, potato chips, and a soda. By a miracle, my camp for the evening was only a quarter mile away. After I set up camp, I wandered back. They offered me a baked potato, macoroni and cheese salad,
Date: 2016-04-29
From: Campsite At Mile Marker 354.4

To: Greasy Creek Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

Today's entry will first talk more about the mind blowing Trail Magic that I started talking about on yesterday's post. Our hosts took out pork ribs, two slabs that had to comprise an entire pig's ribcage, (both ribcages of a pig) and put them over their bonfire, cooked them up, and fed us ribs as well. I am not a beer drinker, but they also offered free beer. At 8:00 PM, I wandered off to my campsite, a quarter of a mile away, but the party continued for several more hours. In the morning, the Trail Magic people, who camped out overnight, prepared a quiche breakfast for anyone who wanted it. I would not believe this story if I had not personally experienced it. I have averaged 12 miles for the last 2 days. Ideally, I would like to average 15 miles per day. However, yesterday, I climbed 2600 feet. Today I got off easy. I only climbed 2000 feet. THe trails do NOT corkscrew. They go straight up the side of the mountain, and then straight down the downside. After 12 miles of that kind of climbing, over rock and root overgrown trails, with a 35-40 pound pack, I am utterly whipped at the end of the day..And now for my rant about the younger generation's mistake. When I did my year long bike trip (O2K), I don't know if even one of the 250 participants smoked cigarettes. On the AT,almost ALL of the younger generation smokes cigarettes (among other things, ahem). I know it's none of my business, and I probably shouldn't let it bother me, but the younger generation is who I am depending on to provide for my social security.I hope I'm not making an unreasonable request, but you young people, is there any way you can refrain from smoking until the day they lower me into the ground? After that, please feel free to light up to your hearts content!
Date: 2016-04-30
From: Greasy Creek Hiker Hostel

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 10.4
Weather: clear sky

Today my destination was the Roan High Knob Shelter, at 6200 feet, the highest shelter on the AT. As you might expect, today involved some climbing. I climbed 3000 feet in total. The first part of the climb was not so bad, as the AT corkscrewed around the mountain. The second half of the climb was very strenuous, and it would have been worse if someone hadn't warned me that there was a false summit (you think you are done climbing, but you still have a hell of a long way to go.) The weather forecast predicted rain by 5:00 PM. I arrived at the shelter at 3:30, set up my tent ( I don't sleep in shelters if I can avoid them, as some of them are overrun with mice, which crawl all over you at night when you are trying to sleep.) At 5;30, we could hear thunder in the distance, and very cool looking wisps of fog floated through the campsite. Shortly after 7:00 PM, the rain started. I really enjoy the sound of rain hitting my tent, just as long as I am inside the tent when it happens. It rained all night long. I got lucky, and the rain stopped by morning, so I was able to take down my tent and have breakfast with no rain. Shortly before I arrived at the shelter, I passed a stone chimney, standing by itself right next to the AT. It was all that remains of a luxury hotel that was in business from 1884-1924. It was called the Cloudland Hotel. Each room had a bathtub and hot water, an unheard of luxury for the times. Three sumptuous meals were included in the price of your stay. It cost two dollars to stay for one night, or ten dollars for a week, or thirty dollars for a month. The hotel was exactly on the Tennessee/North Carolina border. A green line ran the length of the hotel, so you knew at all times whether you were in Tennessee or North Carolina. This distinction was important ONLY in the hotel bar, because drinking was legal in Tennessee, but not North Carolina. A sherrif from North Carolina would sit on the NC side of the bar and arrest and fine anyone who wandered into North Carolina with a drink in their hand!
Date: 2016-05-01
From: Roan High Knob Shelter

To: Overmountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: light rain

The higher up a mountain you are, the worse the weather can be. At 6200 feet, the weather was deteriorating rapidly after breakfast. My thinking was that if I got back on the AT as soon as possible, I could beat all or some of the rain. I did ok for the first few miles, then all hell broke loose. On the AT, you constantly either climb up or down a mountain. I wanted to get as low as possible as quickly as possible, but the AT had other ideas. As the rain BEAT down on me, and the wind howled, I began to ascend a VERY steep mountain. The AT turned into a river of very fast moving water, moving down the mountain I was climbing. I was soaked, and a little bit freaked out. Fortunately, I was prepared. It was raining, but that was ok, because I was wearing my swimming suit. I am not joking. In fact, I have walked over 400 miles of the AT, and I have worn my swimsuit every step of the way. I do this for two reasons: 1) My swimsuit is made of a synthetic fiber, which dries very quickly. 2) Wearing a swimsuit has allowed me to avoid the problem of chafing of my legs. There are times when there is no other place in the world that I would rather be than on the AT (except possibly Hawaii). This rainstorm was NOT one of those times. At that time, the AT was the LAST place in the world I wanted to be. I had been warned that things can get pretty bad on the AT, but the situation will improve, and that's what happened. After an hour and a half, the driving rain became a steady rain, still not much fun, but still better than the driving rain and howling wind. Then the steady rain became a drizzle, and then the rain stopped altogether, and believe it or not, the sun came out, and the clouds parted to reveal blue sky. I cut my hike a few miles short of where I intended to go for the day, because I stopped at Overmountain Shelter, an old barn that had been converted into a shelter. I did so because there was a HUGE group of hikers staying there, and I wanted to socialize with them.
Date: 2016-05-02
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Mountain HarbourB&B/Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: broken clouds

My destination was a luxury B&B, which also has both a bunkhouse and camping for AT hikers. At hiker hostels, it costs more to sleep in a bunkhouse than it does to sleep in a tent, which is fine with me, because I would rather sleep in my tent as opposed to a bunkhouse. Both the bunkhouse and camping options at hiker hostels allow you to take a shower, and to do laundry, and resupply with food. These are the reasons I hit every hiker hostel I come to. Due to the heavy rains, I saw 3 bright orange newts in the forest (I thought they were salamanders, but I was told they are newts) early in the morning. They were 3-5 inches in length. All 3 of them appeared to be dead, but when I got my camera close to them to take a picture, they quickly fled. The luxury B&B/hiker hostel has a WELL deserved reputation for offering the BEST breakfast of the entire AT. (It ought to be good, it costs $12, and it is worth every penny.) They served several different pasties, several different quiches, ham, eggs, French toast, and I had a cup of raspberry/chocolate hot chocolate. It was SOOO good! To get a breakfast this good at a B&B, you have to pay BIG bucks. It cost me $10 to camp, plus $12 for breakfast. I will probably never again get a deal this good. (Actually, that is not true, I got the same deal again the next day.)
Date: 2016-05-03
From: Mountain HarbourB&B/Hiker Hostel

To: US Forest Service Road 293
Miles today: 13.9

The purest of the pure of AT hikers will tell you that you MUST carry your backpack every step of the way along the AT in order to be considered a true AT hiker. There is an alternative to this. It is called "slackpacking." Slackpacking involves carrying only water and possibly a meal/snacks in a daypack for one or more days. According to the AT authorities, a person can achieve the status of getting a certificate for hiking the entire AT by hiking the entire distance, either with or without a backpack, and a person can take as many years as he/she needs to to complete the hike. Many of the hiker hostels offer a slackpacking option (for a fee). The Mountain Harbour hiking hostel offered such an option, and I took them up on it. It felt SOOO good to walk with just a daypack. The hostel people dropped me of at the gravel road 13.9 miles north, and I walked back to the hostel. This meant I spent a second night at the hostel, and thus I had NO CHOICE but to pay another $12 for another breakfast from heaven. (yep, it's a tough life, but dammit, somebody has to make these kinds of sacrifices.)
Date: 2016-05-04
From: US Forest Service Road 293

To: Black Bear Resort
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

As I sat on the front porch of the B&B at 7:30 AM, waiting for my delicious breakfast, I couldn't figure out why I was shivering, even though I had on a shirt and two jackets. Then I glanced at the thermometer. It was 45 degrees out! It also gets very chilly once the sun sets. I have also lost 15 pounds since I started this hike, and that may also be a factor in why I get chilled more easily. The weather forecast has predicted rain every day for the coming week. So far, I have been very lucky. It rains only at night. It rained heavily last night, but I was in my tent, and the rain did not bother me at all. (Although I have to be careful that my sleeping bag does not touch the tent walls, or it will get wet.) Keeping my sleeping bag away from the tent walls is not so easy to do. I met a very interesting young man the other day. He is either an incredible athlete, or a teller of tall tales. He had a very slender build, and he was a quiet man, and he did not seem to be a braggert so perhaps his claims are true. He says he is a long distance runner, and that he is listed in the Guiness Book of World records for running the longest distance in 24 hours (137 miles). He also claims to have hiked 75 miles in one day, the length of Great Smoky Mountain National Park. So he's either an incredible athlete, or an incredible liar. (and I guess I'll never know which of those two things he really is.)
Date: 2016-05-05
From: Black Bear Resort

To: Black Bear Resort
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today is Cinco de Mayo, a national day of celebration in Mexico. In consideration of that fact, I am taking a zero (rest) day today. (hey, I realize that is a very flimsy excuse for a rest day, but I take a rest day every 7 days.) I have just been informed that the Watauga Lake Shelter is closed, due to bear problems. The bears are a problem only at night, not during the day. So I can hike through the area, I just can't spend the night in that shelter. So I will probably spend the night in a private campground in Hampton, Tn. Yesterday, I walked about 5 miles through an area that was recently burned by a fire of undetermined origin. There was also a fire near Hot Springs, TN, but fortunately for me, I had already passed through when the fire happened. There was also a fire in Shenandoah National Park. I bicycled the length of that park a few years ago, and it was a very beautiful park, so I am very sorry to hear about the fire.