morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-12
From: low gap shelter

To: Trey Mt. shelter
Miles today: 15.1

This was everyone's first 15 mile day. I began walking at around 11, breaking new ground every day. the day was cake until rocky Mt. which i think was the hardest climb of the trip, followed by an equally steep descent and a 2.5 mile steady climb up to the shelter. I arrived there spent as was everyone. I heard "didn't expect to see you" as i was gaining a reputation for getting up late. I was getting tired of hearing this because i had heard it almost every day, when will these people learn. I had enough energy to make the half mile climb back up to the peak for an even greater sunset than yesterday and an amazing view, finally. Everyone was tired but in a great mood as this was the first day we spent in the sun, i even got a little red.
Date: 2003-04-13
From: Trey Mt. shelter

To: Addis Gap
Miles today: 5.3

As i was tired from yesterday and regressed to sleeping until noon i was only planning on going a short 7 mile recooperation day. As I neared mile five i noticed something bright down the trail. I continued on to find it was a sign hey hikers, hungry it said. Yes i was. Then i noticed another farther down. Grilled cheese this one said. Wow that sounded good. The next said 10 annual addis gap feast in the forest. There were another 7 or 8 signs each one upping the last. Each promised free food and cold drinks for hikers. I finally got to the gap itself and one last sign. .5 miles and an arrow along with a handwritten note from a fellow hiker who i had known for a while that said there was a party and everyone was camping. I hurried down the path expecting something fantastic around each bend. I wondered if bears had set up the signs to feast on us or if we would round the last bends to see a bunch of shotgun barrels. Putting up food signs on the trail is like leading lambs to the slaughter, you have no option but to check it out because if the signs were true.... Well my suspicion was unfounded. This was trail magic at its best. I walked into a party with all my friends, just about everyone i had met out here Wingin it, caradwyn, blueberry, pinot, muktuk, quentin, matt, spiff, bucky, i.b. walkin, stryder, weaver, chaco the list goes on. I was handed a grilled cheese as i walked into a tent city and heard four of the best words I had ever heard "keg's in the creek". sure enough. We ate and drank to our hearts content. I am hard put to remember a night where i had as much fun or such an amazing time. To cap it all off was a great campfire to the sounds of chief and kelly on guitar. kelly is an amazing singer songwriter truly, i think she could be professional. What a great time, my sincere thanks to kelly, chief, moo, gordo and everyone else who spends so much time and money just to make a bunch of hikers happy, it really restores ones faith in humanity.
Date: 2003-04-14
From: Addis Gap

To: plumorchard gap shelter
Miles today: 9.6
Weather: clear sky

It was everything all of us could do to escape the gap. do you want some more eggs, grilled cheese, soda, bloody mary, fresh fruit. The barrage of goodness kept on coming. The rum balls were due in at any time and i knew i had to go, i managed to escape at about 2:00 as the next group of hikers came in for magic. I can't say enough about that place and those people.
Date: 2003-04-15
From: plumorchard gap shelter

To: standing indian shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a big day, first state line. What a welcome to north carolina we got as just over the border were three back to back excruciating climbs, not to mention it was getting warm. Last night was my first night in a shelter and i won't be doing it that often. Its the mice. They rule shelters. It felt like they were knawing on wood right next to my face. They crawl over you and root through your pack if you don't secure it properly, sometimes chewing their way through. Only after several rainy days will i stay in one again. Today was very hard although a beautiful day with good views.
Date: 2003-04-16
From: standing indian shelter

To: wasilik poplar
Miles today: 20.3

Huge day. stryder, quentin(yonder), bucky, matt and i decided to get as close to town as possible and to try a big day. Today was a good easy day to do it as everything was very gradual except one extremely steep but short climb. I am talking pull yourself over rocks and looking almost straight up. There was a firetower on top that was a magnificent view all the way forward to the smokies and back over what we had just done. Stopped for a couple long breaks and pushed on. There was a shelter .6 in front of where we went but we wanted to go on to a monster tree that reminds one of a giant sequoia, it was only there because it was too big to cut. There we passed out head literally on the tree under a full moon, i felt good after a long day. Life is good. Town tommorrow.
Date: 2003-04-17
From: wasilik poplar

To: franklin, NC
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Woke up with the sunrise under the giant tree. It was time to get to the road and try my thumb at hitchhiking for the first time. I thought it was fun for like a minute, then very aggravating. Since there was five of us we tried in two shifts. The first two got picked up quick by a woman who had driven past but then turned around because god told her to. I had to stand at the road for 45 minutes before being picked up by some people who had been staying at the last shelter we passed last night. Since it took so long i was nervous about making shoney's for the breakfast buffet but we made it just in time. Mmmmm plate of bacon. spent the rest of day wandering around town after getting a room at the franklin motel. did laundry, went to post office to get my food, went to library, went to mama's for dinner.
Date: 2003-04-18
From: franklin, NC

To: wine spring
Miles today: 7.2

Woke up and hung around town for a while. We called someone that was supposed to shuttle us to the trail and sat waiting for over two hours before someone else who had driven by us several times that day brought us the ten miles back to the trail. got back pretty late but decided to climb for a few hours to stay at a campsite a good ways up. there was a shelter about halfway but you had to go off trail .5 miles to get there and i don't like going that far.
Date: 2003-04-19
From: wine spring

To: wesser bald shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

what another gorgeous day. I woke and packed up to the sound of gunshots. It was gobbler season. I was startled and unnerved to see a guy with a rifle slung over his back come walking down the trail. He didn't shoot me to my relief. started out by climbing wayah bald. Now there have been several mountains named something bald, which means they are supposed to be grass covered without trees due to grazing, fire, drought etc. Most of the ones so far however have been mostly tree covered and this was no exception. Wayah however had a stone tower on it. This tower provided an awesome view of what i had just come over and on into the smokies. Decended down into burningtown gap which had been an old highway. There was a guy sitting there who motioned me over and offered a cold drink. His name was diamond doug and he had completed a thru-hike in 2000. He had taken friday off and spent the three days of easter weekend camping and sitting in this gap to greet hikers and give them cold soda and little debbies. what a guy. He also had stove fuel a full first aid kit and some fresh fruit. More trail magic. I was forced to hang out for an hour and see some other hikers come down that i had met that day, it is fun to see the reactions. I departed and climbed up and over a couple mountains. The second one wesser bald had an old firetower on it that we could climb for a view ten miles closer to the smokies. two towers in one day, and a clear day at that. went down to the shelter where i met hot dog. now hot dog is a guy i have heard about that carries a cat! It is a small one but still weighs 8 pounds. Sucks to have to carry the animal you are travelling with although stubby (the cat) does have 20 some odd confirmed kills of shelter mice. Nice but i still wouldn't want to carry the weight.
Date: 2003-04-20
From: wesser bald shelter

To: cheoah bald
Miles today: 13.8

today was Easter. It is the first time in my life that i have been away from family on easter which is a big day for us. After careful thought i decided that i would spend it hiking. ha. So my friends and I set off on a steep 6 mile decent down to the Nantahala Outdoor Center on the Nantahala river. This is a whitewater hotspot and you could sit on the bridge and watch kayaks shoot some rapids while you ate at a restaurant. Being easter we (bucky, strider, matt[now wigglestick(because his walking stick wiggles each step)]decided to eat at the restaurant (like we wouldn't have anyway) for some easter dinner. It wasn't keilbasa and ham but a fat cheeseburger and fries made this easter special. While we were there a woman walked up to all the hikers and told us that the easter bunny had left something for us and gave everyone there a bag of easter candies. The magic just keeps coming. Now the unfortunate thing about a long decent like the one we did this morning is that it means there is a long uphill on the other side. This one was a strenuous 8 miles that seemed never to stop. I must have said can't get much higher than this for about the last couple miles as each turn produced a piece of mountain slightly higher than what we could previously see. We decided upon getting it all out of the way in one shot and camping at the top on Cheoah bald, which was actually partially bald. I set up my tent a few feet from the edge of a cliff, not a great spot but all the good ones were taken. I prepared dinner a few feet from the edge on a spectacular lookout and in front of an awesome sunset. Happy easter indeed.
Date: 2003-04-21
From: cheoah bald

To: cable gap shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: light rain

Woke up in the middle of the night to booming thunder and lightning that lit up the tent. Oops maybe 5062 feet on an exposed bald wasn't the place to camp today. I woke at 10 to hear the last few drops. I climbed out of my tent to the overlook and saw one of the coolest things i have ever seen. We were above the clouds. The valleys below were covered in white with all the large mountain tops sticking out. It was an amazing view. I was in no hurry to pack my wet tent and my legs ached from the long hard climb yesterday. I sat to enjoy the view and all of a sudden i noticed some mist rolling in. It took less than a minute for the whole view to dissapear in a fog. It began to pour as strider began to break down his tent, he was committed to leaving, i wasn't so i retreated to my tent. After a half hour the storm let up a little bit, it was about to stop when a fresh wave of thunder rolled in. I heard a loud expletive from one of my friends who had just gotten out of his tent to try and make a break for it. we waited the storm out and left after noon. This next eight miles were the slowest i moved on average since leaving, i hurt. We crawled into a shelter some hours later. I had no interest in doing the entire 12 miles into fontana dam the next day so i cooked up some dinner and headed out. Bucky, Wigglestick and I left just before the sun set for the first night hiking i had done. It goes a little slow at times but I am a huge fan and will probably do it quite a bit in the hot weather. I was startled by a bird that landed on my shoulder briefly then took off. Wierd. We rolled into the next shelter 6 miles away at about 11:00 and set up our tents.
Date: 2003-04-22
From: cable gap shelter

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: overcast clouds

We actually got up surprisingly early at 9:30 to see strider come in from the last shelter. He had decided against the night hike and woke up real early. The four of us raced toward fontana dam to try and catch the lunch buffet. We got there just in the nick of time to find that there in fact was no lunch buffet. Fontana Village Resort was 2 miles from the dam and the only civilization around. There really isn't too much there. It is a spread out complex made for cars. Walk to register, walk to eat, walk to laundry, walk to Post office etc. I got a massive food drop that was to last me for 10 days throught the smoky mtns and on to Hot Springs NC. It was 17 lbs. I barely could cram it all in my pack and it made the pack weigh what seemed to me to be a hundred pounds. I didn't get a room but Bucky and Wigglestick did and i slept on their floor. We ate the dinner buffet that cost 10.50 and wasn't very good. This place was trying on the nerves, it was totally dead and there didn't seem to be anyone that worked there around. The facilities were lacking is several ways, i know it was the off season but i hope i never have to go there again. I wanted to update the journal but i found that it cost you a dollar for five minutes of internet so i boycotted it. I had planned to spend a 0 (mile) day there but my experiences changed my mind, tomorrow i would head into the smokies.
Date: 2003-04-23
From: Fontana Dam

To: birch spring gap
Miles today: 7.0

woke up. boycotted the breakfast buffet which was 7.95 compared to 4.00 at shoneys. took care of last few business items and took the shuttle back the two miles to the trail. I was wrong about my pack weight, it was closer to two hundred pounds. We were a mile and a half from the actual dam itself (at 480 feet the highest this side of the rockies. Of course the trail went up a hill and away from the dam at the start. I wasn't happy and my pack was too heavy. Finally got to the dam itself and cooked up some hot dogs i had bought for lunch. Headed over the dam and crossed into Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Fontana Dam was at a low spot so there was a four mile climb into the smokies. I wasn't happy but i made it up the four miles to the top of shuckstack where there was a firetower. this one was pretty rickety and shook when you climbed but they would have put a sign if it wasn't safe right? Nice view back over the massive fontana lake and onward into the smokies. On the way up we saw a deer on the right of the trail about five feet who acted like it hardly saw us. This reminded me of Shenandoah Nat. Park where you have to kick the deer in the butt to get them out of your way. Funny how the deer know where you can't hurt them, they were bosses here, no guns allowed. Camped five miles up and made a large campfire. Yonder finally caught up as he had stayed an extra day in Franklin. Nick the englishman was there and an old guy named 70 whose age i don't know camped there as well.
Date: 2003-04-24
From: birch spring gap

To: spence field shelter
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

I started out the day at 11:30. Oops old habits die hard. I was planning to go 17 miles today. I climbed up the first five and met up with some hikers I had met several days ago and ended up hanging out for a couple hours as more and more people i knew came through. I tore myself away because i knew more familiar faces would be coming up at any time and a five mile day was unacceptable. The weather got progressively worse and i heard that it was supposed to rain. Oh well. I walked the next five miles with Wide Load who was just out for 250 miles, what a charachter. I heard some of the most interesting things of my life from him. We stayed at a shelter with a fence across the front ( most of the shelters in the park do as it is meant to keep bears out) i didn't like to sleep in the cage but you were required to sleep in the shelters unless it is full and i didn't mind staying there in the rain. Met a few section hikers three were some morons from Alabama who had made a fire which was welcome but then threw a lighter in to make us jump. Wide load and i should have buried them but its not like that out here so i was just rude. Rain came in about dark.
Date: 2003-04-25
From: spence field shelter

To: Double Spring Gap shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: light rain

What a day to hike in the smokies. Driving rain, howling wind, poor visibility. It was a cold wet day but I had fun going over exposed balds in this weather anyway. I was going to do a twenty mile day to make up for my laziness yesterday. I even got up before 8 to start. There was no way I could have done another 7 miles yesterday, it was hard hiking. I tried to hurry along today to make a lot of miles but in these types of soggy conditions you have to be careful of your footing especially on rocks and roots, one step could end the trip. I reached a shelter after about 12 miles and had to stop in because i was out of water. I met a couple that were doing a weekend hike. I got to talking and told them where I had come from that day and the people looked stunned. "You came from spence field shelter today? You know you just did the hardest section of the smokies?" Ha I laugh at the hardest section of the smokies. "you're going farther?" Funny weekend hikers. I had planned to go another 8 after this time and I could have gotten there by dark, but I only went another 2 miles to the next shelter. The 8 would have brought me up and over Clingmans Dome, the highest point on the whole trail at 6,643 feet and i wanted to give the weather a chance to break. I was happy to see Wide Load pull into the shelter a little while after me. this night was the most interesting shelter night on the trail.   Between Lenapi Jim's ghost stories like the time he went to a lake where a ghost was to appear on the full moon in June "i waited there for a week and that b==ch never showed up", and tales of martian imitators (guess what the hardest part of the human body to imitate is?)I nearly soiled my sleeping bag, the shelter was roaring. When I get home do yourself a favor and ask me to tell the whole story.
Date: 2003-04-26
From: Double Spring Gap shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: light rain

Today was the day rain or shine that i get to climb to the trails highest point. Some day hikers told us it may clear for us so we set out from the shelter for a four mile climb with fingers crossed. The trail on the way up was awesome. Just the trees and bushes at high alpine altitudes were amazing. Everything in the park had an untouched and very unique look to it. The higher we climbed the more the sun wanted to break through. We reached a point that had to be close to the top and it finally did! We took a break and in five minutes the scene before us went from a thick fog to blue sky. In a matter of minutes the sky cleared and we could see fontana Lake where i had been a few days before but which was now 35 miles away. What a view! What would it look like from the top? How far would we see then? The answer 30 feet. As quickly as the sky cleared another cloud shrouded the mountain. We got to the top where there was a huge observation tower with a long circular ramp. Despite the wind, fog and rain I ate lunch up there and enjoyed the view. It was funny to see tourists up there who also climbed up the tower (after driving to it of course) and just like i did took the picture of nothing. Hey we were at the highest point on the trail/park and we were getting our money's worth. We began the wet decent to Newfound Gap where there is a major road. My friend Bucky was just ahead of me and as i climbed out of the woods to the parking lot where he was standing with sweat dripping off me i realized that there was a camera pointed our way. Cheese. Bucky being the sly one asked the ladies who were very excited to see hikers if there was a soda machine around even though he knew there wasn't. Boom, cokes in hand. we even got a piece of what seemed like the best pound cake i've ever had. Magic. The rain had stopped but at this point the sky opened up again. The tourists fled to thier cars and i put on my raincoat and pack cover and walked again into the woods thanking the ladies profusely. Got to the shelter three miles up and it was full. I was offered a cozy spot on the muddy floor but instead i took advantage of a short break in the rain to set up my tent. Poured all night and when i woke up there was ice crystals on the rainfly, it was cold.
Date: 2003-04-27
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: tricorner knob shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: clear sky

Having been cheated for Clingmans I had my fingers crossed for good weather for the bunion. Charlies bunion that is. This is a well known and very cool rock outcropping. The sun came out this morning and dried my tent right out before i left the shelter at an early 9 am. The bunion was awesome and so was the weather. It wasn't very clear and I met a man who told me why. He was a regional director with the Park service conservation association who told me all the smog was coal power plants. He said the average daily distance you were supposed to see in the park was 75 miles, but because of pollution it was 15 miles in the summer and 25 off season. He then pointed out a line you could see some miles off the ground and told me that was the pollution. It was amazing you could actually see a distinct line like the blue stripe at the top of a car windshield where the smog ended. I even took a picture. At some point yesterday before clingmans the trail rose above 5000 feet for 35 miles. The rest of the day was an amazing ridge walk with cliffs constantly on either side. This day made up for the crappy weather of the previous days. Great short distance views all day. Got to the shelter pretty early so there was a lot of down time. Around dark everyone was about ready to go to bed and there was a headlamp down the trail. It was a guy named reason who just did a twenty after he was dropped off at the road. He said hey guys do you realize that today we just completed over 10% of the trail. We gave a cheer. To celebrate i carried a liter of bourbon. We gave a bigger cheer and soon there was a large circle as the shelter emptied. We each took a couple swigs and stood around enjoying the night. It was very unexpected trail magic and a good warm up for another cold smokies night.
Date: 2003-04-28
From: tricorner knob shelter

To: state line branch
Miles today: 17.0

Today was the last day in the smokies and another gorgeous day. It was mostly a long descent. The kind of long downhill that makes your knees ache and feet howl. I broke the monotony of the day by taking a .6 mile side trail to a fire tower. I almost didn't go because i wanted to do a lot of miles. I had to remind myself i was on vacation and wanted to see the sights, besides walking with a pack is amazingly easier. It was a neat old stone structure that reminded me of a lighthouse with a deck circling it. Real nice views, flowering trees, it was a nice way to wrap up the smokies and i almost didn't go. I would have felt like a jerk. I finished up the descent and went on another couple miles to a nice campsite between two brooks and sat around a campfire.