morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-28
From: Spivey Gap

To: Erwin TN
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: clear sky

Got up early -- 6:30-ish -- because we wanted to get to Erwin, 11+ miles away, by 2:00 or so. Started hiking around 8:00. Very nice out, and again beautiful terrain. Hiked up to the No Business Knob Shelter for a quick break, then on our way again. Finally caught sight of Erwin as we began our downward hike -- those are always really long & hard on the feet, but at least there's the reward of town at the end.As we emerged from the woods, the first thing we saw was a great wooden porch w/ soda machines -- nirvana! Turned out to be a hostel, Uncle Johnny's, which had a great cabin for us to rent, so we decided to stay there. We showered up (ah!), gave them our laundry to do (nice!), then went into town. Got our mail drop from the post office, then re-supplied, then went to Pizza Plus for some AYCE (all you can eat) pizza. Coyote was there -- he had ridden a bicycle from Uncle Johnny's, along with Delta Blues, Whirlybird, and Potatohead (from Idaho, of course). Had lots of pizza & salad. Blaze & Face showed up, great to see them. Then went back to cabin to relax, and ran into Dimple Rock, Wrong Way, 2 Speeds, CMJ, Verity, and Carnathy Bob -- glad to see them! We thought they were a day behind and had been wondering when we'd see them again. Turns out they had yellow-blazed (hitched) to Erwin the day before, dropped off their packs, then slack-packed (hiked w/ only a day pack) the 25 miles they had hitched. We hung w/ them a bit then they went to their hotel -- w/ or w/o a full pack, 25 miles is tiring. The only disappointing thing about Erwin was the movie theater situation -- we had read that Erwin had a movie theater and were sooooooo excited to go to the movies. Turns out that although there is a movie theater, it's only open on the weekends, and today's Monday! So no movie. To compensate, we bought twizzlers and watched a movie on the VCR in our cabin "Meet John Doe" (it was in the room). Moo fell asleep (some things don't change on the trail). 42 stayed up late reading. Very relaxing.
Date: 2003-04-29
From: Erwin TN

To: Erwin TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Zero day in Erwin! Got up, showered, went to the Elms for a fantastic breakfast -- eggs, hotcakes, home fries, orange juice, and diet coke, what could be better? Dined w/ Blaze & Face & Delta Blues. Then to the post office to take care of some things, and it was a hiker hangout -- we ran into Dimple Rock, Wrong Way, Casey, Axl, Runaway, and Foxy. Went to the library & updated our online journal, then to the Erwin Burrito for, you guessed it, Burritos. Back to the libe for more journal updating, then for more Mexican food w/ Dimple Rock, Wrong Way, & crew -- very fun, and according to D. Rock, we had "the best waiter in 300 miles." That night our plan was to relax & enjoy ourselves. But we called home & found out that our cat sitters had split up -- oh no! We're sorry for them, and what about our poor critters?! We talked to Sabrina and she's planning to stay and take care of Friday, Ollie, and Daisy, and have a friend (another pre-vet student) help her out, so no fears. Phew! Finally got a chance to relax and watch a movie -- Moo put in the movie "Don't Go Into the Woods," just the right one to get us excited for the hike tomorrow. We both fell asleep before it got really gruesome though, although Moo did see 6 people slashed in the first 10 minutes. Happy dreams!
Date: 2003-04-30
From: Erwin TN

To: Beauty Spot Gap
Miles today: 10.8

Had another delicious breakfast at the Elms, this time w/ Wounded Knee & Renee & Potatohead. Then to the Post Office, then back to Johnny's to pack up. Somehow it got to be 1:00 before we were ready to leave . . . but our lingering allowed us to meet up w/ Dimple Rock, Wrong Way, Foxie, 2 Speeds, CMJ, Carnathy Bob, & Verity. We were excited to hit the trail, then about 10 minutes into our hike we came to train tracks, and a train was going across. Luckily not a very long train, and soon we were on our way on the uphill climb out of town.A few miles into our hike we heard thunder rumbling in the distance, getting louder and louder. We thought maybe we should stop and put on our rain gear, but Moo urged us on, and that turned out to be smart -- we made it to the first shelter only seconds before the sky opened up and it started hailing! Others weren't so lucky and got soaked. We took a long lunch break to wait out the storm, and finally, about 4:45, we left the shelter to go another 11 miles.Came upon Beauty Spot Gap, a bald where Last of the Mohicans was filmed (so they say -- there was a controlled burn since then, and the woods leading up to the bald aren't all that beautiful now, although the bald is great). Some wanted to stay there but there was a lot of lightening, so we decided to move on. The guidebook said there was a campsight just a mile or so later, and we looked and looked for it, but couldn't find it. It was getting dark and we didn't know how much longer the storm would hold off, so we just made our own campsite in the woods. Moo told the story of "Don't Go Into the Woods" (or what he know of it) and totally freaked out Foxie.
Date: 2003-05-01
From: Beauty Spot Gap

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 5.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Happy May Day!When we woke up, Foxie told us how she was totally freaked out all night long b/c of Moo's telling her about "Don't Go Into the Woods." When she woke up in the morning, she thought that she'd leave her tent and see written on the tent next door, in blood, "Aren't You Glad You Didn't Leave Your Tent Last Night?"When we left the shelter yesterday (after the hail storm), 2 Speeds fell behind b/c he wasn't feeling well, and by the time we made our campsite, we had lost him -- we knew he was somewhere behind us, but we didn't know where and felt bad that he was alone during the storm, but it was too dark to go back. This morning, Carnathy Bob went for a morning walk and found 2 Speeds in his hammock only .2m from our campsite, feeling better. Reunited.Hiked up Unaka Mtn. -- it was a wooded summit on top so no views, but it was gorgeous. Looked like an enchanted forest, you could almost see Hansel and Gretel roaming around.   Then we hiked down and went to the first shelter for lunch. We got there before the others and had lunch as the others trickled in. Everyone was lazing around, not really motivating to hike on, and Moo suggested why not stay at that shelter for the rest of the day? Everyone loved that idea and we set up our tents. We napped, played cards, wrote in our journal, wonderful day. That night we had a campfire. We had been planning on having one for a while -- when we left town, Moo was carrying 2 lbs. of marshmallows, and 2 Speeds had 2 packages of hotdogs & buns, but it had been raining too much to eat them. Finally it was a clear night, so we cooked up the dogs, roasted the marshmallows, and even had s'mores -- DR & WW had graham crackers & nutella. Yum!
Date: 2003-05-02
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Roan High Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: overcast clouds

After our slacker (but wonderful) day yesterday, we were determined to make some miles and headed out for Roan Mountain. Moo and 42 somehow got ahead of the others. Great view from Little Rock Knob. As we were coming down, the sky turned totally dark so we stopped to put on our rain gear -- the second we put our stuff down, it started pouring! 42 put on all her rain stuff, but Moo for some reason didn't put on his rain pants, and his shorts were soaked through in seconds. The storm broke before we hit Roan Mountain, so we decided to climb up. About 1/2 way up, the storm returned in full force. There wasn't much we could do but keep on climbing, but we counted the seconds between the lightening & thunder to see (in that very scientific manner) how close the lightening was. It got as close as 3 seconds apart but no closer, so we kept on climbing. Off to our right, we could see that the sky was totally clear, while dark and ominous overhead -- very neat. The storm finally moved to our left, and the skies cleared for the rest of our climb, which was good b/c the climb became a bit of a rock scramble. Very fun climb, but we didn't need torrential rains during it. At the top of the mountain was a sign showing where a hotel used to be -- the hotel straddled the NC/TN border, and in the half of the hotel in TN alcohol was allowed, while in the other half it wasn't allowed, and there was a sheriff who used to sit around and wait for people w/ alcohol to cross into the NC half and he would arrest them. We then made our way to the shelter. By that point, we were cold and wet, and we figured there would be no room in the shelter so we'd have to pitch our tent and it would probably get wet . . . we weren't really looking forward to that. Then we got to the shelter, and it was amazing! Not your normal shelter, which has only 3 walls -- instead this one was a cabin -- it had 4 walls and a door, and 2 floors, and plenty of space on the second floor. It was a haven -- there was plenty of room for us not only to sleep, but to hang a line for our clothes. A little later Dimple Rock, Wrong Way, and Foxie made it to the shelter (the others hunkered down sooner), and there was room for them. Moo made dinner, but didn't use quite enough water, so we pretty much had dry mashed potatoes and stuffing for dinner. We had trouble finishing it b/c it was so dry so we gave it to DR and WW, who were so excited to have it b/c they were cold and wet and didn't want to cook dinner.
Date: 2003-05-04
From: Elk Park, NC

To: Laurel Fork Spring
Miles today: 14.0

Had huge breakfast at the Shady Lawn Restaurant, then got ride from Herb to the trailhead. Waiting at the trailhead was a trail angel with a truck full of food. Although we were stuffed from breakfast, we made room for more food -- you can't turn down trail magic. Thank you Scuba's dad! Finally got on the trail about 10:40. Beautiful walk through fields, then we ran into Scuba, who was slack packing (hiking without his pack). Then got to Jones Falls, a wonderful waterfall that Moo & 42 walked up. Had lunch next to another waterfall. Moo & 42 fell behind the others. About 12 miles into the hike we came across what we thought was more trail magic, a cooler. It was empty when we opened it, but then we got to a road and saw D. Rock, Wrong Way, and Foxie sitting there sipping on Mountain Dew from the cooler, and they had saved one for us -- hiker trail magic. Our original goal was to hike 17 miles, but as we sat there sipping our drinks, we changed our plan and decided to camp asap. Only problem, as we started hiking, we couldn't find a campsite. Finally met up with a couple of other guys, FlyBy, Vagabond, and Bird (a dog), and we camped next to them. Moo, Wrong Way, and Foxie had some trouble hanging the bear rope and finally decided just to mouse proof the food & let the bears get it if they wanted it (they didn't). We made a campfire and had marshmallows as we ate dinner. Just as 42 was about to have a marshmallow, Foxie mentioned that marshmallows contain gelatin . . . no more for 42, damn!
Date: 2003-05-05
From: Lauren Fork Spring

To: Kincora
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: light rain

We were so excited to get to Kincora b/c we had heard it was an incredible hostel run by incredible people, but the weather was also excited, and a windstorm slowed us down. As we walked through the woods, we could hear the wind howling and see the trees swaying and bending, and we could even hear limbs falling nearby. Not a very relaxing hike. Then we dropped into a valley and everything changed -- the wind ceased, the sun came out, all was peaceful. Moo and 42 fell behind Wrong Way, Dimple Rock and Foxie, and as we got out of the woods and onto the road to Kincora we were on our own. We remembered the others saying that Kincora was to the right, so we went that way. It was supposed to be just .2m away. After about 1/2 mile, though, we came to a different hostel/hotel and realized we had gone the wrong way, so we turned around. A guy poked his head out of a window and say "this is a nice place, you should come here, you'll like it." We told him we were meeting friends at Kincora but thanks, and he went away. A few minutes later, he pulled up in a van next to us and gave us a ride to Kincora -- so nice.When we got to Kincora it was totally deserted. We figured that everyone had gone to town for a food run, and we made ourselves at home while we waited. We put all our clothes in the laundry and showered, so we were sitting around in towels when they all got back, including the hostel owners who we had never met -- nothing like introducing yourself to someone wearing only a towel while you're in their home and they don't know you're there. But they didn't even blink an eye, and we later realized that things like that happen all the time. Wrong Way and the others had brought us a treat from town, a pizza -- can you see why we love them? Having eaten an early dinner, we were hungry again later in the evening. Moo accomplished the difficult task of yogi-ing a steak, yes -- a steak, from Scuba, an awesome and generous fellow thru-hiker. Thank you Scuba. 42 ate her favorite meal -- poptarts. Kincora was full that night so we didn't get a bed, but we camped out on the living room floor and had fun hanging out with everyone until they all hit the sack and freed up our bedroom. Note -- sleeping away from the snorers ain't such a bad thing.
Date: 2003-05-06
From: Kincora

To: Kincora
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Up early as folks came through the living room. We were planning to do trail maintenance, but it turned out it was cancelled due to rain -- yup, we can hike in the rain, but we can't do maintenance in the rain. Turns out 42 was very disappointed that we'd be able to completely relax for the day. Went into town with Bob Peoples and others to get a hot meal and resupply -- we sure do love riding in the back of pick-up trucks!! Moo ravaged the Chinese buffet, while 42 pizza pizza'd at Little Caesar's.Went back to Kincora, where 42 became engaged in a knock 'em down tough game of Monopoly (she was the shoe). While victory escaped her, she was a fairly long-standing property owner until Blaze, the slumlord with properties like Baltic, won.Movin' on up...from sleeping on the floor to the top bunk of one of the many hostel beds. We were, of course, fearless of plummeting to the ground due to our sturdy zipped-together sleeping bags. Two Speeds, Chafe Master J, Thistle and Carnathy Bob arrived that day. We cooked out burgers (veggie burgers for 42 -- Moo ate his own people) that night at the hostel.In the middle of the night, Moo woke up drenched in sweat in our 30 degree bags and took a couple hour nap on the couch downstairs to cool off.
Date: 2003-05-07
From: Kincora

To: Kincora
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Good morning -- time to hit the trail -- hike again -- get back in the wilderness -- or maybe not?Moo wasn't feeling too well -- nothing serious -- just catching up on sleep and R&R -- so he spear-headed the double-zero day movement. Wrong Way Brown was antsy to hit the trail that day -- and everyone else was on the fence. In the spirit of Moo's political jobs, 42 called for a secret ballot. Wrong Way volunteered her fancy schamancy [sic] cup (a cleaned-out plastic peanut butter jar) for ballot placement. After much wrangling and lobbying, the zeros prevailed and Moo and 42 were into their very first double zero!!42 grabbed a book and vegged most of the day in bed, while Moo schmoozed. Aaahh -- the benefits of a long stay payed off as we moved into the honeymoon suite -- the 1 solo bedroom in the place. Can you say "let's go to the movies, movies, movies!?" Bob Peoples was kind enough to make a movie run that night into 42's very own town, Elizabethton. Although all was well with the loving couple -- they split (for movie viewing purposes only) and 42 saw X-Men 2 and Moo saw Anger Management. Fun to go to the movies -- our first time since we hit the trail.
Date: 2003-05-08
From: Kincora

To: Watauga Lake Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Well - we finally made it out of Kincora after 3 glorious nights! We had an amazing hike down to Laurel Falls and enjoyed the creek-side rock scramble in a light drizzle. We crossed a couple wooden bridges and gave the next shelter a miss. It turns out that Dimple Rock, Wrong Way & the crew had been waiting for us at the shelter -- whoops, so now we were heading up the steep climb to Pond Flats ahead of them. By the way -- there's no pond (Pond is a guy's name) and it's not flat!! Passed Pipes and Wind Talker slack packing South back to Kincora.By the top of the Flats, Nemo, T-Bird and Play caught up to us -- they were slacking to the north, planning to meet a section hiker friend of theirs, Couz, down at the lake. Moo and 42 got down to the beautiful Lake Watauga at about 2pm and minutes later, a guy in a pickup truck with an AT sticker on the back pulled up -- we said, "hey -- are you Couz?" "Yup" he said and there started the trail magic -- beers and cokes -- a good man!!The crew all made it down to the lake and we all ate lunch and enjoyed the sunshine. Moo, Two Speeds, Brian, 42 and Dimple Rock went for a dip in the icy cold, but refreshing, water. Couz and company hit the road for his cabin and the rest of us just hung out by the lake for...HOURS!! Well -- by this time -- we were all hungry again -- after all it was about 6pm. Moo suggested that McD's would be a scrumptious dinner option (we were only 2.5 driving miles from town) and was able to get a ride with some local guys at the lake. Moo returned in about 20 minutes with 16 double cheeseburgers and an 18-pack of Bud Light. After that healthy meal -- we all hiked around the perimeter of the lake the 2 miles to the Lake Watagua Shelter (Two Speeds had the suitcase of beer strapped on the back of his pack) and set up camp.Mountain Butterfly (who none of us had ever met before) arrived shortly after dark and received "trail magic" from us in the form of one left over cheeseburger and a beer -- she sure was happy.Moo & 42 tented by the shelter that night and at about 3am were awakened by tremendously long, rumbling thunder and lightening -- an incredible light show. No rain yet, but it was sure on the way. 42 got out of the tent and spoke with Brian (who was in his hammock) and Wrong Way (who, with D-Rock, was also tenting) about whether to seek refuge in the shelter. They decided to head into the shelter with the others who were sleeping (now awake) in there, but Moo & 42, noting their relatively low elevation, decided to stick it out in their tent. The rains came in the form of a crashing downpour, the thunder was loud and scary, but the tent proved itself once again, holding strong through the storm.
Date: 2003-05-09
From: Watauga Lake Shelter

To: Iron Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: broken clouds

When we awoke, the storm had passed and we felt great. Packed up camp. Believe it or not, there were 5 beers left -- no, we didn't have them for breakfast -- Moo left them upstream in the shelter watersource and put a note in the shelter journal indicating their existence for some unsuspecting happy hikers.Hiked out to the dam, expecting to use a "real" restroom. Bummer -- the restroom was very far off the trail, so no dice there. Had a great climb up from the dam -- hiked to the Vandeventer Shelter for lunch. Ate on the rocks behind the shelter -- what an awesome view of the lake. Hung a bear line and dried out our very wet tent. Met Katouri and 56, thru hikers from Boone, NC. 42 was very excited to meet another number -- very cool.Hiked to the Iron Mountain Shelter and set up our tent, had some dinner. While reading the shelter journal, we learned that there had been multiple bear sightings in the last couple days -- so we hung our food in a tree, as opposed to in the shelter and waited for bear. Instead of a grizzly, we got a big ole frog -- a really huge frog -- not a hog. 42 discovered it trying to leap into our tent -- fortunately, it didn't get to cuddle up with us for the night.
Date: 2003-05-10
From: Iron Mountain Shelter

To: Abingdon Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: broken clouds

The frog didn't get us in the night. Started off the day by hiking to the Nick Grindstaff monument -- a shrine to a famous hermit (2 Speeds: if the hermit was famous, doesn't that mean he was doing it wrong?). As we were hiking along, we ran into a section hiker going south bound and chatted for a few minutes, then headed on our way. As we rounded the corner, we saw a thick black snake blocking our way. It was looking right at us. Not good. We know nothing about snakes except not to piss them off, so we just stood there waiting for it to leave. It started to slither away, so we moved up the trail, but it heard us -- it stopped and turned its head around to face us. Then it raised its tail, and the tail started to rattle, really not good! We backed up and gave it plenty of time and space to go its merry way. Finally it got bored with us and slithered away. We flew up the next part of the trail, just in case it changed its mind! Met up with D-Rock and crew at Low Gap, where they were talking to Sheepstuff's husband (he's not hiking the trail but he's providing support for her on her hike). He gave us some jellybeans then left. We decided to try to get some food or soda from passing cars by making a sign. D-Rock got to work on the sign -- she knew she was tired so she very carefully wrote the sign, making sure not to mess up spelling "thirsty", but she wasn't so careful with some other words, and the sign read "THIRSTY HIKERS, SOADS PLEASE." No one gave us the time of day (maybe they were trying to figure out what a soad was), so we looked in the book and discovered that the Cranberry Cafe was only a few miles away. Hmm, that could be hitchable. Moo spotted a car across the street and went over to try for a ride -- turns out it was a woman picking up a father and daughter from a hike, and they made room for us in their vehicles -- only thing is, one of the vehicles had a deer skeleton in the back, creepy! But a ride's a ride and we weren't turning it down, and they got us to the Cranberry Cafe. Had some good food at the cafe, then ran into Sheepstuff's husband there, and he gave us a ride back to the trail head (yes, we made it back on the trail that day) -- he had to make 2 trips to get us all there -- so nice of him!Moo & 42 were in the second shift back to the trail head, along with 2 Speeds. We went by an old shelter that's no longer used (called the Holiday Inn), then made it to the real shelter.