morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-10-25
To: hot springs, nc
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

hiking hiking and more hiking led us to here...so we have arrived in hot springs. we have been looking forward to this for awhile as we planned to take a day off here and soak in the hot springs and relax. We havent had a full day off in a long while. And we also had heard so many great things about this town...having all our hiking needs and a great place to stay. We stayed at Sunnybank inn (elmers place). It is a beautiful victorian house that has been a boarding house or inn for many many years.Elmer who now owns the place thru hiked years ago and also used to own his own restaurant. So they serve a wonderful vegitarian breakfast and dinner, which elmer cooks. This food is truely gourmet and such a great change from the dehydrated foods we have been eating. (which at this point I am starting to get tired of the deydrated meals that we have been eating, esp. tuna, salmon, and chicken that come out of foil wrapped packages). I think he said that they use vegetables and fruits that they grow in thier garden. I wanna do this, have a garden that i just go out and pick my produce from, then pop back inside and cook away!!!! How amazing is that?? And of course like i mentioned earlier we made our trip to the hot springs, which were relaxing and such a reward for tired muscles. at the springs you basically rent a private hottub that is filled with natural hot spring water. it is under a gazeebo outside in a wooded area facing the creek or river there. so it is an interesting mix of a normal looking hot tub but sorta being in nature still. AND one of the people working at the inn had some of sufian stevens (i know i didnt spell this even close to right so i guess you have to sound it out...) music which was so great to hear as i dont have any of that music with me. so basically it was a refreshing time in town...and then we headed in to get our backcountry permit for the smokies and headed out of town for the last few miles before we entered the famous great smoky mountains!
Date: 2008-10-26
From: hot springs

To: walnut mt shelter
Miles today: 13.0

as we approached the area of trail surrounding this shelter we read signs that warned of agressive bear activity in the area of this shelter and the next. this is the first sign that we have seen about aggressive bears. we had seen some bears in the shenandoah park but they just were afraid and ran away and we have heard about the bears in the smokys being aggressive. so we decided to stay at a shelter instead of just tenting b/c at the shelter there was at least a bear cable to hang your food and pack on up high, which we felt was more secure than how we usually hung out food in the trees. so as we got settled in for the night i was some what on edge and wondering if i was going to see a bear that night. so as the sun went down we hadnt seen or heard anything of a bear, in the middle of the night i thought i heard something so i got scared and curled up in a little ball in my sleeping bag and called out to shawna, i think i hear a bear!!! but really it was a windy night and i dont think it was anything...so no one was eat'n by a bearthis also was one of the first shelters that we ran into a water issue, the spring was dry and there was only a mud puddle so we just ate our lunch food that didnt require any water and held out till we came across water the next morning on our hike
Date: 2008-10-27
From: walnut mt shelter

To: painters branch campsite
Miles today: 17.0

yeah, we found water this morning!! i was thirsty and it tasted so good! headed on for max patch which i had been hearing about while i was in hot springs so i was curious. it is a bald mt that has an incredible view. since it is a bald mt is feels like you are hiking up one big green grassy hill. so wide open, i was really tempted to roll down the hill but really i was lazy and didnt want to hike back up it. but i did take a rest which turned into a lunch rest to take in the view and just relax. below there was green grassy flat patches and then some rolling hills what were vibrant with fall foliage! but is was pretty windy up there as on most balds. it would be great to come back to alot of the balds in the summer and camp up there when it isnt so cold, i think it would be great to pitch the tent with such a good view just outside! to watch the sunset or sunrise. but for now cant stay too long or i'll get blown away. little glad to get back to where trees were that were blocking some of the wind. so we hiked on and pushed past where we originally were going to stay. there was a random building up on top of the mt that we thought would make a cool drive in movie, but i guess it would be alittle far out there for most people. it looked like a bowling pin though, really random. but we had our first view of the smokys from up there...tommorow that is where we will be...we went up snowbird mt (seems like this 1000 of so ft climb went really fast) and down little ways so as to be lower in elevation and hopefully warmer as we could feel it cooling off even morein the early afternoon, the sun was blocked by clouds that didnt look to happy, like we were going to get some precipitation but i didnt think the weather was calling for any...but i was wrong...as we set up camp in a beautifully fall colored valley area i tried to make a fire and to no avail it wouldnt stay lit and even shawna tried and same thing wouldnt stay lit, so we just gave up and moved about setting up tents, eating etc...and at one pt shawna was saying she saw some snow flakes falling, which shocked me greatly in no way did i ever imagine that it would be snowing! but i thought oh just a fluke, it wont stick, though it defintly felt cold enough to snow. so we went to bed and not to much later i could hear the snow begin to really fall. so when we got up in the morning there was a covering of snow, not to much, as the trail was still not really covered but the leaves on trees were holding snow on them and i had to brush snow off my tent. so it was a mix of fall and wintere with the fall leaves bright in the white snow. exciting!!! our first snow on the trail
Date: 2008-10-30
From: pecks shelter

To: gatlinburg/newfound gap
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

felt like we were hiking through a woman going through menopause as one moment we would be in the warm sun with snow melting then the next second on the other side of the mt in the shade where it was windy, cold and still 3-4 in. of snow on ground. so i would put on and take off my hat and gloves dozens of times in different combonations as we climb and descended in different scitzophrenic weather. we found tons of ice cycles (dude i feel embarrassed i dont know how to spell this)on sides of mt some pretty huge which formed over plants some with ripples. I ate one that looked like clear carrot with moss on the fat end that looked like the green stringy end of a carrot. as started the day didnt know what to expect as my body still felt in shock from morning hike yesturday will it be the same craziness or calom all i know was it was better when i hiked with shawna so i know im gonna stick with her today. not so windy todayand the sun coming out helped a ton. last few miles was pretty slick with ice so takn it slow. As we came descending down from the trail in the smokys we came out to a huge parking lot with tons of people at newfound gap. Alittle bit shocking as we had been in the backcountry for 2 1/2 days in the smokys and a few days before that. we had seen other backpackers out for just a few days, but now we were with people who are out for the day or just driving up in their cars to see the view. I have had my hat on for about 5 days straight now and have the result of matted dirty hair, wearing my glasses (which many people know i dont do in public) I smell 5 days ripe and old, with smelly frozen socks hanging from the back of my pack. I stopped to take a picture of the sign by where we came off trail which listed katahdin to be 1972 miles away. i then became an instant celebrity as people began to ask where we had come from and i explained we were coming from maine. so a few random people wanted our picture by the sign because of this. and let me tell you what an impressive looking image i left on their camera (sorta embarrasing). So we are about 203 miles from Springer!! half way through the smokys and tommorow we go back up and finish the last 40 miles of the smokys. it has been snowy and in the teens at night, so biting cold. many people know how i really cant handle the cold well...so it has been an interesting few days. in town i went to get a bite to eat and when i had placed my order a mand and woman approached me and gave me $5 and said we saw you hike in and wanted to pay for your dinner, we hope this helps, i said you sure?? they said yes we want to, put that in your log and then walked away. how amazing is that?? ive never had that happen to me before, what a blessing and very kind! so we showered, did our laundry and had a nice meal
Date: 2008-11-01
From: siler bald shelter

To: mollies ridge shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

One last day in the smokys! since the snow has all melted it took all the fall color with it, leaving the leafless trees and brown remains of leaves on the ground. the weather has warmed up again and i am enjoying soaking up the sun as we walk!! I am so thankful for this warmer weather as I really could not handle a lot more of that really cold weather we had a few days ago. wierd to think that just a day or so ago we were walking in 3 or 4 inches of snow and now to look around you, you wouldnt know that it had snowed at all. I think that snow added such a grandeos feeling to to first part of the smokys im so thankful that i was able to expereince that even though it was hard. Seems like the second half of the smokys is more strenous as we have steeper ups than we have seen since up north in maine. but thanks to shawnas encouragement, im making it. in the smokys you have to stay at the shelters, you cant just put up a tent anywhere...so we had dinner at one shelter and were moving onto the next possible shelter at 5:15 with about 5.6 miles left to hike. so we set off to race the sunset...thankfully the trail evened out as we speed hiked through piles of leaves on trail, by the time we reached the shelter i think i was carrying my own mini habitat in the cuff of my pants complete with dirt and leaves. we timed it perfectly as we reached the final ascent the sun was just beginign to sink behind the mt ahead of us. so beautiful, again a warm orange sunset much like we saw last night. and as i turned to see the bright slice of moon in the sky, shawna mooned me, crazy girl!!! but we still have little less than a mile to go to the shelter, so we were again racing the darkness. We pulled into camp just as we were having trouble seeing trail in front of us. as we were finishing our walk to the shelter, we were facing the brightly colored horizon of the sunset, the shelter was on a ridge which enabled you to see the sunset really well!!!! and in the morning we rolled over in the shelter to see the warm orange sunrise (the first one ive seen on trail in a LONG time) best part was not even having to get out of my sleeping bag to see it! what a great way to finish one day and begin the next!! last night we also looked at shawnas pix she had taken through out the trip it was fun to look back and remember things, we even watched a video of me attempting a water crossing. I had forgotten about it so as I watched myself on the screen I jumped at one point when i was teetering on a rock and about to fall in...like watching myself in a real movie, will i make it across the water??? go monkey! yep i lived (didnt wanna keep you in suspense there)
Date: 2008-11-02
From: mollies ridge shelter

To: fontana dam
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: clear sky

down we go out of the smoky mts. nice slower paced dayso we conquered the smokys and because the hostel was full stayed at the swanky smoky mt lodge. ate a late lunch, restocked on some candybars, showered and relaxed watching a movie in bed! gosh whatta hard day...most of the traffic in the smokys is earlier in the year so a lot of the services are offered on a limited level now this time of the year so we were so glad that we arrived on sunday when the general store was open, b.c it wouldnt be open again until thursday and we really did need to buy some more food to make it to the nantihala outdoor center. if we would have showed up on monday we really would have been struggling there, we woulda figured somthing out but man it would have really stunk...
Date: 2008-11-11
From: NOC (nantihala outdoor center)

To: Wayah Shelter
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: clear sky

Back on the trail again, one foot after the other. Glad to be back out here, walking down the miles one by one. Quite the climb outta the NOC this morning, but the rest from these last few days and knowing it was coming up helped out as creekdiver and I plodded up and up. YEP you read it right, creekdiver has finally made it back out onto the trail!!! So glad to see her bright and early this morning! Stayed at the NOC bunkhouse last night, thought I was the only one there as they have tons of rooms with only 4 bunks in each one. So it seemed a little lonely, but I knew if I could just go to sleep then in the morning santa clause would deliver little creekdiver. so when i met creekdiver this morning, I saw somthing else (another hiker shawna and I met in VA) also, turned out he was there last night also just in a room down stairs. But it was good to see him once again, he is planning on finishing on the 24th so we probably wont see him again, so sad. after 5 days off trail for me and 2 months off trail for creekdiver, we pulled out macho man qualities and marched 16 miles thru the woods, with quite the ups and downs i might add, yes you can be impressed by us...in fact you should!! suppost to rain today but thank God that it didnt!! just a few showers at night, but we were warm and cozy in sleeping bags. sun now sets at 5:30 so getting in around 5 last night was great as the sun was on its way out for the night. after eating dinner in the dark, crawled into my sleeping bag at 7 or so, only 12 hours until the sun comes up again...but i was really looking forward to the rest! Wondering if i would be sore in the morning regaining that great hiker hobble, looking like an old woman as i walk. soooo 117 miles left!
Date: 2008-11-12
From: Wayah Shelter

To: Franklin, Nc
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Here comes the sun, lalalalala....its alright its alright!! Awake at 7am, walking out of the shelter for the morning bathroom RUN, and what do I see???? a gorgeous sunrise, bright pink turning into orange, what a reward for waking up early!!! Climbing out of the warm sleeping bag into the morning chill gives you quite the pep in your step as you quickly scramble to get packed up before frostbite sets in (well not frost bite, but cold if you dont keep moving). On the trail by 7:45am we had a mission and that was to get to town and eat lunch there!! First thing had a climb up to Wayah bald which had a view more than I had expected!! above were clouds that were dark threatening rain and below a thin layer of bright orange light then right below was the blue hazy mts in the distance with the city below!! if that wasnt enough one part of the sky had this small section of light rays coming out of the sky beaming down into one of the mt tops, almost like that ray of light they portray aliens using to suck humans up into their ship. now i know it wasnt aliens, or was it,haha. but it was so beautiful, almost as if God says hey here I Am. then some more ups and downs a mt and then down to the gap. Creekdiver had been thinking at every gap or road yesturday, there must be trail magic, but i knew there wouldnt be as you know there hasnt been any down south. but today, today was different. the first thing we saw was a huge tent in the woods that said AT angel on it so we went in and there wasnt much some chairs, wood burning stove packets of tea and coffee, but no one there, so we moved on. thinking oh well at least we are going into town we will treat ourselves there. so we were .10 mile from the road we were getting off at and i spotted 2 bottles of soda leaned up against a tree, thinking, no way this cant be trail magic...then in a tree just above hung a bag, and usually around a gap if you find a bag in the tree it is just trash so i tried to not get my hopes up as i went up to it and touched it...it was food!!!! we had found trail magic and so timely and great as we were hungry it was lunch time. so we drank the coke and ate the mcdonalds sausage biscuit and little debi as we waited for our ride into town. thinking what a great day!! up early done hiking by noon trail magic its not raining and we are going into town to rest life is sooooooo great!! what a great Provider we have as I know there are no coincedences!!!! so again tonight we rest our heads, clean well fed, dry and warm in a cozy bed!! however there is rain called for the next 3 days with some colder temps, this im not looking forward tooo as it will be awhile before another town once we leave here...cold and wet...106.6 miles left
Date: 2008-11-13
From: Franklin, Nc

To: franklin, nc
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Yep didnt move an inch on trail today...it was suppost to rain today, and why hike in the rain when I dont have to cause we thought it was going to be clear tommorow to hike, but the forcast has changed with cloudy afternoon today and then pretty definite rain tommorow, funny how that works, huh?? guess i cant run away from the rain. most towns that we stay in are pretty small with not much to do, so we just come in shower, laundry, get groceries relax a little and head out the next day, so after doing that yesturday afternoon there is not much to do around this town guess i'll just have to drink another pepsi (one of the bad habits i picked up on the trail, drinking soda) and wait to watch The Office at 9pm tonight!! oh, we heard yesturday that there is a southbounder that just started the trail around october 15, so from my calculations that means WINTER WINTER and more WINTER, crazy people, i thought I was out late in the season...today in town i found a trucker hat that was both camoflauge and bright orange, im not sure how this works, cause i thought camo made you blend into the woods and the bright orange was suppost to make you easy to site from far away so the hunters wont shoot you???? i dont get it, so i bought one for everyone i know, merry christmas!!!
Date: 2008-11-15
From: Carter Gap

To: Plumorchard Shelter
Miles today: 19.8
Weather: scattered clouds

rain rain go away come back another day! rained ALL night last night loved the sound of the rain hitting the metal roof of the shelter! we had the shelter to ourselves and the resident mouse last night. with the clouds blocking the moon it was pitch black outside...sorta eerie. i woke up at midnight thinking it was almost 6am, and as i looked at my watch i was suprised to count up on my fingers that i had 7 more hours till sunrise, i just kept looking at my watch thinking, i must being seeing things, maybe i was looking at the alarm time, maybe the mouse reset my watch???? but it really was 7 hours until the sun came out or attempted to. the rain stopped pretty much right at 7am which was great for us, went outside looked above the shelter and saw blue skies, jumping up and down and cheering i was excited as the last forcast i heard called for weather to clear up today and the sun to shine!! so we set out with a little fog/mist still hanging in the trees and crisp breeze. but what lye ahead for the day was a surprise i guess you could say as the sun quickly faded behind the white wall of clouds again and starte to rain off and on again with wind, and feeling the temps litteraly getting lower and lower...so every time the sun would come out i would jump for joy literallly then it would laugh as it hid again, this happend about 2 or 3 times and then i just resolved that the sun was a trickster and i wouldnt believe it will ever stay out. we arrived at out intended stopping pt at 1pm and thought it was too cold and miserable to just sit for the rest of the day and night so we just kept walking till about 4 or so, it was the only way to stay warm, and somewhat comfortable. one great thing is i think my face got some great exfoliation as the sleet hit my face. aww well, enough of my pitty party it really is great to be out there expereincing things that make you a little tougher!!!
Date: 2008-11-16
From: Plumorchard Shelter

To: Dicks Creek Gap/hiawasee, GA
Miles today: 4.3
Weather: few clouds

I woke up went out of the shelter to collect the food bags and again was impressed by the sunrise this morning, i love this part of the sun rising later, never before have i been up early enough to see so many sunrises!! each so different. it had snowed last night, just a light dusting but it defintly stuck. so in the last day or so we have had every type of precip. imaginable, rain, sleet, mist, downpour, snow, fog...felt good to wake up and know i was in GA my last state!! last night the shleter was full of about 10 people, the most people we had seen in a shelter or even around in a looooooooong time. which was so surprising seeing as the weather had not been the most inviting, with precipitation, wind and cold. but it also was the weekend, which tends to bring more people out. hey im goin to town today!!! getting warm and relaxing, this will be my last trail town, as the next and last place we stay in a few days will just be a hostel. so weird to think after we have been through so many towns. i have enjoyed this part of the trail as you are able to get some of the flavor of the area you are hiking around, to see the difference of people around east coast from the north to the south, so see so many small towns...it has really been such a great mix of being in 'wilderness' and then getting back to a town every 3 or 4 days. almost like a jillion 3 or 4 day backpacking trips. get your fill of the woods, then come to town get your fill of town stuff and go right back out again to the woods!! seriously i really have enjoyed this balance. but i know that there are AT hikers who dont like giong into town and will go in and out of town as fast as possible, as seldom as possible, ahh to each his own...