morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-03-23
From: Tricorner Knob Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: broken clouds

Day 20Brrrr! Although we stayed warm all night, it was definitely tough getting out of my sleeping bag this morning! One of the coldest nights we've had yet. Had a quick breakfast, packed up and hit the trail at 7:45am. Was a little tough going at first since not only was there ice on the trail, but our shoes were frozen, too! Tough to get going with cold feet. The miles flew by this morning and before we knew it we had gone almost 11 miles by 12:15. Stopped for lunch before starting the final 5.3 miles of the AT through the Smokies. We started walking at 1:40 and finished the downhill section in just under 2 hours. Not bad. Now that we're done, I hate to admit it, but I was a little relieved to leave the park. Although I really enjoyed most every day we spent there, the Smoky Mountain section was the one that I was most nervous about. Makes me feel slightly more confident about the rest of our trip (emphasis on the "slightly" - we still have a LONG way to go). But since we're finished with them, I can now write the list of things that Jeff (from the Hike Inn in Fontana) told us to watch out for: bears, snakes, wild hogs, black widows, brown recluses, mice, poisonous scorpions, ticks, lightning, hypothermia and forest fires. Ykies! And just for the record, we saw 0 of all animals and /or "bugs" in the above list. It was definitely way too cold for any of them to be out.Another beautiful day today - amazing views everywhere. I'm positive that some of our best pictures will come from the Smokies.Tonight we are at Standing Bear Farm, a hostel just off of I 40 (which we walked under today), and about 2.5 miles from the end of the park. Really nice place and great people. Are here with Yooho, Hodge, Casino, Whitey, and another woman whose name escapes me at the moment. Should be in Hot Springs in a couple days, and from there we are less than 2 weeks from Damascus! Can't get too excited yet though - still have to make it there! Saw my trip flash before my eyes today as I stepped off a rock into a pile of leaves twisting my ankle pretty good. Kept right on going thinking to myself, "WALK IT OFF". My achilles is sore and a tad swollen, but it's good to go. I've been struggling yesterday and today with a chest cold I think I caught from Yoohoo. I'm fine on the downhill, but uphill is a killer - hard to breathe and painful to take a deep breath. It also comes with a lovely hacking cough that kept me (and others I'm sure) awake last night. Had some hot apple cider and green tea and am taking tylenol so hopefully it will move out soon! Feel fine otherwise - just down in my lungs. Anyway, that's the update from OUTSIDE the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (YES!). Back to "normal" trail - if there is such a thing. Love to all! Talk to you soon!
Date: 2006-03-24
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Standing Bear Farm
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 21   Woke up this morning feeling pretty rotten even before I looked out the window and saw the rain/sleet/snow that was falling. Spent a slow morning eating breakfast and meandering around trying to decide what to do. Finally, one of the guys said something like, "Wouldn't it be nice if we stayed here today?", and there you have it. We decided to stay in hopes of a restful day of waiting out the weather and my sickness. Spent the majority of today sitting in front of the woodstove reading "The Way to Timbuktu", an interesting story about an African missionary.The people who own this place, Curtis and Maria, also have a restaurant (actually, I think it's Maria's mother's place) in nearby Cosby, TN. On Friday nights they shuttle interested hikers over for dinner and live bluegrass music. We decided to get the whole Standing Bear experience and head over with the group. What a crazy night. The restaurant is called "The Front Porch" and is a Mexican/American/International place. They served all kinds of burritos, tacos, burgers, pasta - you name it, they had it. The food was good, the service was ok, but the music was really fun. When the band got up to play, it was the weirdest looking group: an older guy with a really cool old suit playing fiddle, a 20-something guy with a purple shirt and slacks on guitar, a really short, really quiet guy on bass (who you almost never noticed because he was always behind everyone else), tall 40- something pickin the banjo and a really southern looking guy on mandolin. They played lots of great songs and even had some women (possibly wives of the guys) with these really weird tap shoes who got up to dance to some of the faster songs. The funniest thing I heard all night was when the fiddle player (who when he wasn't playing was chain-smoking) looked over at the guys, suggested a song, and then said, "Let's hit it hard boys, real hard. I done had me a red bull!" HA HA! It's probably funnier if you could see this guy, but we were laughing pretty hard for a few minuts. So we really enjoyed "Deja Blue", and spending a typical Friday night with the folks of tiny Cosby, TN. Quite an experience. So since we rode with Maria, and she works at the restaurant, we were there from about 6:30 to 10:30. Long time to hang out but we had great entertainment. Got back here around 11 and amazingly Hodge and Yoohoo decided to night-hike out to the first shelter 7 miles north. We said goodnight and they headed out. Guess we'll find out tomorrow how it went. Are here tonight with Casino, Whitey, Cookie and Karuna Miel. Will try for 20 miles tomorrow but we'll see.
Date: 2006-03-25
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Walnut Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 20.3

Day 22   Merry Christmas! Oh wait, it's spring . . . isn't it? Woke up this morning to a pretty snow fall that never stopped all day long. Packed up and headed out around 7:45 and began our climb out of the gap. The higher we went, the higher the snow got until eventually we were struggling through 6-8 inches. Walking uphill in snow is a little bit like walking through sand. Tough hiking but absolutely beautiful and completely peaceful. Got to the first shelter surprisingly quickly and read in the log that Hodge and Yoohooo made it early this morning at 2:30 am. Kept moving north from the shelter and had about 6 miles before we had to go over Max Patch, a really big bald that we were looiking forward to seeing. Made it to the base of Max Patch around 2:30 pm and began the walk to the summit. What happened next was definitely the scariest part of our whole trip so far. We followed footprints up the first section and got to some posts that had white blazes painted on them. Followed a few posts through the lst section of trees and then got up to the bald and things changed drastically. The wind started whipping like crazy, the footprints and posts disappeared, visibility went way down, and the snow got really deep. At times we were sinking in to our knees and a couple times to our waist. Struggled up over a drift, looked around and had no idea what to do. We couldn't see the trail and had no idea which way to go. Started walking the way we thought seemed right, but still couldn't find a blaze anywhere. Twice, we looked at each other and just said, "I don't know what to do!" I thought we would have to either turn around and camp before the patch and wait for the weather to die down, or camp right there. At any moment I was expecting a complete white out. Started getting pretty nervous and finally just decided to take off in hopes of finding the path. Was praying pretty hard for some guidance and protection at this point and quickly received both. Finally saw a blaze throught the mess and breathed a silent "Thank You!" and a sigh of relief. What should have taken about 10 minutes to cross ended up taking us at least 30. I was so thankful to get off of Max Patch and back into the woods. We'll be returning here to see the 360* views from the summit on a nicer day. Whew!So back in the woods we went the ~1.0 mile to the next shelter and decided to go for the big miles. Ate a quick lunch and headed out for the last 5.7 to the shelter. Practically ran the first 4 in a little over an hour. The last 1.7 was the longest of my life, but we made it safe and sound. Whitey, Compass, Casino, Yoohoo and Hodge made room for us in the tiny shelter and we were all in our sleeping bags trying to stay warm by 7:30 pm. Helium and Jeremy showed up around that time and Jeremy set up a tent outside while Helium set up on the floor under the overhand. Looking forward to some sleep- hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow! Love to family and friends!
Date: 2006-03-26
From: Walnut Mtn. Shelter

To: Elmer's, Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: broken clouds

Day 23 Another cold morning and completely frozen shoes. I mean COMPLETELY frozen. I couldn't even tie the laces until about 6 miles in. Headed the 13.1 miles down to Hot Springs, NC and although we had heard that 11 of the 13 were downhill, we quickly found out that that wasn't the case. Another snowy white, beautiful hike today and thankfully uneventful. Hiked the last 3 miles down with Helium and finally got into town around 1:30. Headed straight to Elmer's, a hostel here in town. Elmer owns the Sunnybank Inn, an old Victorian house that dates back to 1840. Here at the Inn, they serve organic, vegetarian breakfast and dinner every day. We signed up for both. There's also a music room and lots of books including a whole section of Wendell Berry! What a great place! Have a big crowd here tonight: Hodge, Yoohoo, Compass, Thumper, Treegirl, Little Brother, No Worries, Pirate and Bushwacker. Dinner was served promptly at 7 pm and wow- the food was amazing and extremely plentiful! Peanut soup, a beautiful salad, bean and spinach burritos, bulger salad, bread pudding with cherry vanilla ice cream, water and red wine. I have never been so full in my whole life. Everyone who left the table looked like they were ready to burst! Great food and great company. Here at Elmer's the meals are family style around a big table, so there was good conversation and it was nice to feel like a family. Also have done laundry and had a hot shower today. We may stay tomorrow so I can get my cough checked out at the clinic. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Love you family!!
Date: 2006-03-27
From: Elmer's, Hot Springs, NC

To: Elmer's, Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Day 24Not too much to say about today besides the fact that we're not hiking. Feels pretty wimpy to be doing another zero so soon, but was afraid if we headed back up into the snow, my cough could get worse. After an amazing breakfast of cereal and pancakes, we headed over to the clinic to make sure I didn't have bronchitis. Good news! I don't! Yes! Just an "upper respiratory infection". Got some stronger cough medicine and am taking a slow day today. Most everyone headed back out today except us, Compass and Yoohoo. Hopefully we'll catch them again at some point. So that's about all today. Looking forward to making some phone calls and reading a book. Back to the woods tomorrow! We've really enjoyed Hot Springs - neat little town with great people. The trail actually runs right down the main street which is pretty cool. Will head into Pisgah National Park tomorrow.Huge thanks to the Moyer family, mom and dad, and Mama Phyllis for the cards and packages! It was so great to get them and each had something special in them. We appreciate them so much - THANKS! And thanks to everyone who signed our trail journals guestbook! It's so great to read all the messages from family, friends, and people we don't even know. Doe's #2 + 3, love you girls! Popcorn and coke is gross! Camille, a massage sounds awesome! We just might take you up on that! And I love that you said we'll be in your imagination. Sarah N., we would love to stay with your parents in Harper's Ferry. When we get closer, we'll give you a cal to see what we can work out! Molly, Kerri and Sarah, hope wedding plans are going well! By the time these get posted you'll probably already be married, Kerri. Hope your day is wonderful and all that you hoped for. I'm so sorry we couldn't make it, but we're thinking about you guys! Can't wait to see pictures! MSB, glad John is into Tech - hope he makes the right choice! Captain Hook - loved your message. Hodge took his stove back at NOC for the Smokies - think he was glad to have it. Yoohoo is still sticking it out without one, but he doesn't have as tough a stomach as you and has gone with bagels and cheese over two dry ramen packets. We still tease him though when he does decide to pull out the ramen. Hope you're enjoying your real food from the comfort of your couch! We miss ya, buddy! Thanks so much to everyone else who signed - I can't tell you how great it is to get the messages.Ready for bed after a great and restful day. Great to talk to mom and Nanny today! Keep drinking that tea for us, Nan! Swiftcreek enjoyed talking to Mama Phyllis - hope the moms sleep ok after our crazy experience on Max Patch. Love to family and friends! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
Date: 2006-03-28
From: Elmer's, Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mtn. Shelter
Miles today: 11.0

Day 25I love Hot Springs. Definitely my favorite trail town so far. Tough to leave today, but good to be back out here. Had a good little climb up "lover's leap" and nice views of the town as we headed north. Really took our time today and enjoyed the walk as we gently wound our way around the mountains. At one point we walked by a little lake and sat down for a drink and a snack. Admired the daffodils and the fish before heading on. Met two day hikers with two cute little cockapoos. They looked just like wheaties - thought they were for a minute! Smaller than the terriers, but so cute! Talked to them for about 10 minutes, headed on and found Yoohoo eating lunch. Took a nice long break and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather - first warm day we've hiked in quite a while. Finally picked ourselves up off the log we were sitting on and continued moving. Got to a firetower and made the 0.1 mile walk up to check it out. Really nice view of the Smokies in the dstance, and mountains just as far as the eye could see. Met the two day hikers up there again and spent some more time talking. Eventually headed on and finished up our 2.7 to the shelter. Great day today. Just meandered along, taking in the views and enjoying being in the woods. Here tonight with Yoohoo, Treefrog, Show Me, Little Brother, No Worries, Bushwacker and Jeremy. Since we took the day off yesterday, Treefrog and Show Me caught up, and we got to see Sparrowhawk last night, too. Great to see some more familiar faces. Will go either 16 or 21 tomorrow - we'll see how we feel. Loving life out here. Hope you're loving life, too!
Date: 2006-03-30
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 27Another beautiful day on the trail. Once again, the weather was great - sunny and warm. Had a little climb this morning, and then walked down an old woods road for at least a couple miles. Made it to the first shelter too early for lunch so just had a snack, signed the register and moved on. Saw three butterflies today and smelled a skunk but didn't see it. Also scared up a bird of some sort - maybe a grouse? Got to a gap at 11:30 and decided to stop for lunch. Also at the gap was TN and NC signs. Got our picture taken at both. Took an hour lunch with Yoohoo, Treefrog and Show Me. Pushed on the last 6 miles which seemed to take forever. For some reason I was really tired today. Didn't sleep real well last night on the slanted shelter floor. My cold is still hanging on, too. Can tell we're losing weight. Swiftcreek's got his hipbelt pulled tight, and I had to wrap my fleece around my waist today so I could get the belt tight enough to take the pressure off my shoulders. Decided today that when we get to Erwin we're going to start carrying more food. We'll just have to deal with the weight. Today as I was walking, all I could think about was having a whole box of cereal and milk. Maybe when we get to town, I'll enjoy some Cinnamon Toast Crunch (CTC, right MSB?!). I don't know why, I just really want some cereal. Or maybe I'll enjoy some medium wheats. Here at the shelter with Yoohoo, Treefrog, Show Me, Bushwacker, Little Brother and No Worries. Trying to get to bed early tonight so I'll be ready for our big day tomorrow. Planning to do 20 to No Business Knob Shelter so we just have a quick 6 into Erwin on Saturday morning. Already secured our ride from Nolichucky River to Miss Janet's in Erwin at 11:00 Saturday morning (thanks Treefrog, for letting us use your phone!) I WILL do 20 tomorrow. I will. I will not be tired tomorrow. Gotta psyche myself up! Heard about a good book today - The Future of Life by E.O. Wilson. Have to check it out when we take a day in Damascus. Really nice night - not too cold. Hope I sleep well so I'm ready for 20 tomorrow. Love to family and friends - thinking of you and praying for you everyday! Oh, and thanks for the potatoes and chocolate LaRae! Ate the pudding before we even left Hot Springs, ate the chocolate the first night out, and have eaten one pack of potatoes. The other is dinner tomorrow! Great hot chocolate, too! Thanks fo much for the food! Can't tell you how much we appreciate it! Love to all.
Date: 2006-03-31
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 20.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 28We made it! What a long, but good day. Started the day off with some pretty good climbs, but Yoohoo, Swiftcreek and I were feeling good and moving fast. (Didn't sleep great again last night. Every time I woke up I could hear the mice in the walls.) Had a big climb up beautiful Big Bald. 360 degree views - beautiful! Made it the ~9 miles from the shelter to the summit in record time: 3 hours and 45 mins! Took a few pictures from the top and moved on. Got to Big Bald Shelter which was exactly halfway at 11:15. Took a 45 minute break for lunch and headed out. We had heard from another hiker that bad storms were headed our way from Knoxville, so wanted to keep moving. Went up and over Little Bald and a few more smaller climbs before heading down to Spivey Gap. Got water and had a snack and finally picked ourselves up off the ground to walk the last 4.9 to the shelter. (It's always harder to get moving in the afternoon.) Had a small climb up from the gap and passed over a really pretty little creek. Once we got up a little ways we had a nice, easy, winding, straight or dowhill path - a welcome end to a long day. Beautiful hike and we missed the weather! Well, we didn't have to walk in it anyway. About 2 minutes after we got to the shelter it started raining. What great timing! Ate all the food in our bag (mashed potatoes, granola bar, snickers bar, twix bar and hot chololate) except for 4 packets of oatmeal that we'll eat for breakfast. We're getting up early to practically run thr 6.3 to Erwin. Yoohoo made us hungry earlier by telling us everything he's going to order from Wendy's! The last few miles went by pretty fast today as I got caught up thinking about several things: one of my friends who's getting married tomorrow; what all we need to do (and want to eat) in Erwin; what Grama and Grampa were doing on this Friday afternoon; what kind of tea Nanny likes best; and the fact that we'll be in Damascus, VIRGINIA (assuming all goes according to plan) a week from tomorrow. Can't believe how fast time flies out here! Still hard to believe that we're really living our dream. What an amazing journey it's been so far. Passed the 300 mile mark yesterday (forgot to mention it). We'll toast to 300 over coke and root beer tomorrow in town. Also looking forward to a shower and laundry. We smell pretty bad - especially my socks - yuck! Funny though - out here I don't even think about showers. Only when we get close to town. Said goodbye to Treefrog and Show Me today. Hope to see you guys up north! Here tonight with Yoohoo, Cedar Moe, and Noah. Still loving every minute we are blessed with out here. Hope you are blessed as well! Here comes the rain! Love you family! Oh, and thanks Mama Phyllis for all the chocolate! We loved it - especially the peanut butter eggs!
Date: 2006-04-02
From: Nolichucky River (Miss Janet's House, Erwin, TN)

To: Cherry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 16.4
Weather: few clouds

Day 30 Ok, so I'm cheating a little bit. I'm actually writing this entry for Sunday on Tuesday night. When you get done reading the next two days hopefully you'll understand why.Miss Janet's house is the best hostel we've stayed at yet. She's an amazing person who genuinely cares about the people who stay with her. We felt at home the entire time we were there. If you're reading this and planning a thruhike, you should DEFINITELY plan to stay at Miss Janet's. Awesome place. Woke up this morning from a good night's sleep and headed to the kitchen to join Compass, Cedar Moe, Yoohoo, Matt and Noah for breakfast. Had three bowls of cereal (and was quickly outdone by Swiftcreek's five) and an orange. Then we had to wait for Miss Janet to get back from Franklin (where she was at the same party as Brett! How weird! Wish I would have known sooner he was there) to give us a ride back to the trail. Sat outside on the porch with Swiftcreek watching the people of Erwin go about their Sunday morning business. I loved Hot Springs, but I like Erwin even better. Great little town nestled in the shadow of the mountains. Spring was definitely in full force down in the valley. Trees and bushes in bloom, even watched two bluejays building a nest in the tree right outside the house. So far, if I had to live in a trail town, Erwin would be my choice. Swiftcreek agrees. Miss Janet came back around 10:30, we threw our stuff into the van and were hiking by 11am. Started the day by walking across a bridge over the Nolichucky River. Walked a little ways with the river and then headed up the mountain. Got to the first shelter four miles away and stopped to sign the register. Headed on and eventually made it to Beauty Spot, a bald mountain. The name fits it well - views from the top were amazing and a really nice hike to it as well. Got there around 4:30 and decided to take "lunch". Admired the views while we ate and then kept moving. Not far after Beauty Spot was Unaka Mountain. The climb wasn't as bad as we thought but still took a little while to get to the top. What a reward up there though. Walked right into another world almost. Dark, cold pine forest covers the top of Unaka - it was beautiful! After that we had a fairly quick couple of downhill miles to the shelter. Today overall we had one of our biggest elevation gains. Erwin sits at 1700' in the valley, and on top of Unaka were were at 5180'. Tough day getting out of town but worth every step.Made it to the shelter just as it was getting dark and met Ramble On and Treefingers (Abe and Eric from day 1!). Great to see them again. Yoohoo and Noah at the shelter, too. Crazy weather this night, but I'll write that on tomorrow's entry...