morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-04-13
From: Sassafrass Gap shelter

To: Cable Gap shelter
Miles today: 15.2
Weather: broken clouds

Whoo hoo! broke the 150 mile mark! and... i've officially been out here for two weeks. two weeks!?!? yoiks!Today was cold! It snowed on us today, both in the morning on top of cheoah bald, and then several times once we got to the shelter... brrrr! We are all hiding in the shelter to stay out of the wind... but, i do have to say that the middle of the day was nice and sunny. We got to be warm when the sun was out. It was windy all day... but not so bad when the sun was out.The hiking today was good. We started with a climb up to cheoah bald, with good views...overcast and cloudy, but still pretty. The hiking was cool.. some killer climbs, they like to send us straight up the mountains, no switchbacks... but when we weren't doing that, it was good walking - gentle climbs and descents... great views all over. Ot's fun to look out and see mountains beyond mountains beyond mountains. O'm starting to see more farms in the valleys, and sometimes new houses going in.My time sense has started to shift away from days of the week, to location points... gotta get to hiawassee.. okay, now, gotta get to franklin...etc. and now these location points are at varying distances so my time sense is all messed up. Sometimes it's 2 days between points, sometimes 6... it's an interesting change. I didn't realize it until we were talking to a hiker who came up from behind us, and we were trying to find out where people were, how far back and all that, and he was telling us what day of the week he had seen them. "Tuesday? You saw them on Tuesday? What day was that? The day you were in Franklin? oh, okay!" We could only figure out when he was talking when he gave us landmarks...The only day of the week i worry about now is sunday, because that is the day that the post office is closed... my life revolves around resupply points, and eating.So yeah, the hiking was pretty good today, we did 15 miles. Legs feel good, no more knee pain, but my shin is still a little sore. But it is all good.Tonight we are all huddled in the shelter trying to stay warm... tonight we have hokewa, gobbles, me, bob, CC, venture, chewbacca and everclear, and one other guy whose name i didn't catch.It's only 8pm, but i think i am going to call it a night, and snuggle down in my bag. Tomorrow is fontana dam, and an easy 5 there. We start the Smokies the next day....
Date: 2008-04-14
From: Cable Gap shelter

To: Hike Inn/Fontana Dam visitor center
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: light rain

It snowed!! We woke up this morning to find a blanket of snow covering everything... not too much, but enough to make everything pretty. Stayed warm by wearing lots of clothes to sleep... my bag is only rated to 35 degrees, but when i checked my thermometer this morning, it was hovering around 30...We all grumbled a lot as were emerged from our warm bags to face the morning, because none of us wanted to leave our warm beds, but a day of hiking was waiting! However, the thought of a warm shower and warm room at the Hike Inn was a good motivator to get started.We hiked the first 3 or so miles up high in the snow, but as we descended into the valley, the snow dropped off, and then almost suddenly, we were out of the snow, and into spring again... all the trees were leafing out, and everything was just wet.On our way to the Fontana Dam visitor center, we stopped by the "fontana hilton", to see what it was all about. Nice shelter... holds 24, but only 8 were there by the time we stopped in around 11am. They said it was packed last night to capacity... so we are going into the Smokies in a big pack of people. Should make things fun. hatchet and moccasin ended up there last night after they got a ride... apparently a sketchy experience for them. Anyway, hatchet can walk again and was determined to go up into the Smokies today. I wonder if he made it. He should have taken time to rest his leg, but he wants to stay with this group... hope it works out for him. So we then went and called the Hike Inn folks and they came and got us. The Hike Inn is a cool place, and jeff and nancy have been awesome to us... we took long hot showers, and nancy did our laundry for us, so i am now clean and i have clean clothes. We did our chores for the afternoon, which mostly consisted of trying to organize our food from our drop boxes, and trying to determine what we still needed to buy. Nancy took us into town for dinner, and we had mexican food... chicken fajitas and a sweet tea for me! Then we went to the store to get the last of our odds and ends - and then back to the inn...I have all my food to go 5 days, and now my pack weighs a gazillion pounds. I need to find lighter food to eat. ramen noodles anyone?Tomorrow's climb up into the park is going to kick my butt. Good times... good times...I think i am going to determine my diet over the next few days by food weight... eat the heaviest stuff first.... ha ha ha... no seriously...Looking forward to the Smokies... apparently we are supposed to get 5 days or so of good weather... awesome.So this is my last journal entry for a week or so until i get to the next pay phone...stay tuned!
Date: 2008-04-15
From: Hike Inn/Fontana Dam visitor center

To: Russell Field shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

Fontana dam is a TVA project from the 1940's, built to supply power to some top-secret government project way back when. The AT is supposed to go across it, at the top... but thanks to 9/11, that is no longer allowed. Today we took the detour which brought us to the bottom of the dam, down some roads, across a bridge, and then back up to the other side of the dam. a 2.5 mile detour... it was a nice walk but seemed to me to be kinda silly. Plus, it added 400 feet of extra climbing, and since i'm lazy, i found that extra climbing to be rather inconvenient. Some people here at the shelter, who shall remain nameless, snuck across the dam in the pre-dawn hours, but then had to wait for an hour or so until it got light enough to see the trail in the woods because they didn't have a headlamp. funnyI want to give a big thanks to Jeff and Nancy, the owners of the Hike Inn who took great care of us while we were with them. You couldn't have asked for nicer people to stay with. They bent over backwards to help us with everything, and were a fountain of information for what lies ahead of us...So today we officially entered Great Smoky Mountain National Park. wheee! The hiking was great. We had big climbs because we left the valley and needed to get up to the ridge, but the grades of the path was good, and the climbs were mild in comparison to the last two weeks. The weather is awesome... cloudless skies, with views that stretch for miles in every direction. Up ahead to the north the mountains are covered in snow, and we actually did a lot of hiking through snow. The trail was clear but muddy and squishy. Today's highlight was the old fire tower on shuckstack mountain. Amazing views. Jeff told us that there are 6 major views to hit while in the park. If we get 3/6, we are good.. 4/6 we are lucky, and 5/6 we are blessed. Apparently nobody gets 6/6. But we are supposed to have great weather till at least Friday, so we're hoping for 5/6. I'm personally shooting for the 6/6, but i'm an overachiever when i'm not handicapped by my laziness.The shelter tonight is packed, 20 people in here. I don't know most of them... just bob, gypsy, baboo and CC. Half-elvis introduced himself to me, but other than those guys, ??? maybe i can meet some of them tomorrow. I have a feeling we'll all be together tomorrow night too. It's 8:40 at night, and i'm the only one still awake. It's cold out, so everyone called it quits early. The fire in the fireplace is still burning, so it's warm in here now, but it's going to get cold..25 degrees cold. I am all bundled up in anticipation. I wish I had my wife to snuggle up with to keep warm, or at least my dog.... brrrrrr!Tomorrow looks like a fun day... we are going over something called rocky top.. a 500 foot climb in 1.2 miles, and then a 600 foot rock-scramble decent in .3 miles. aiya!Okay time to call it a night.
Date: 2008-04-16
From: Russell Field shelter

To: Double Spring Gap shelter
Miles today: 16.8
Weather: clear sky

Wow... what a great day for views! Cloudless skies, and clear weather, and lots of walks on ridges so we could see really well...A tough day of hiking - lots of ups and downs. Just like georgia. Complete with pointless ups and downs... i don't get it. It seems just as easy to send us around the side of the mountain, rather than up to the top... especially if there is no real view there... I will have to take this issue up with the trail folks. But i do have to say that i am glad to be coming through here before the leaves fill out because once the leaves are out you won't be able to see as much.I was hoping to have profound thoughts to share with people reading this, but i'm not. Think a lot about my wife and dog, and then when i'm not thinking about them, i'm thinking about the next landmark we're trying to reach that day, or watching the ground to make sure i don't fall off the side of the mountain, or i'm thinking about food. in fact, i'm tempted to go on the all-snickers diet... wait! wait! hear me out on this... snickers has lots of calories which is good. I need lots of calories while i am hiking. It has chocolate for quick energy, which is good. I need that too. It has peanuts, which are good for you, and caramel, which isn't good for you, but it tastes yummy, so that is good... and it has nougat.. and i don't know what that is good for, other than thickening up the snickers, and giving it substance, but substance is good, so I'll go with that. So, the snickers diet equals out to be a good thing. I'll have to supplement it with some fruits and veggies, but that seems reasonable. Does V-8 make dehydrated powder yet? I could use some of that.The shelter is half empty tonight.. only hokewa, gobbles, me, oops, baboo,bob and chewbacca are here. Not sure where the crowd from yesterday went, but this is good...Tomorrow will be a shorter day for us, but we will see Clingmans dome, and have 2 1000 foot climbs to contend with. Should be a good day. Hoping for clear weather up on the dome.
Date: 2008-04-18
From: Icewater Spring shelter

To: Tri-corner Knob shelter
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Wow! Great hiking today! This has been my favorite section of trail so far. We spent a lot of time hiking on knife-edge ridges, and along mountain edges, with spectacular scenery all over the place. For anyone with just a couple of days to hike on the AT, i would seriously recommend this section. Fun!Today started with everyone in the shelter getting up at 6:30 to watch the sunrise. That was a nice way to start the day. We hit the trail by 8, and went first to charlies bunion, one of the "must-see" points on the trail. It was a very picturesque...then we just boogied on down the trail for a day of great hiking. It was a short day, which was also good, because my feet needed a chance to rest up...So when we got to the shelter today, by 3, i took a nap, and massaged my feet and stretched out. It was all good...tonight at the shelter we have baboo, gobbles, hokewa, half-elvis, coach, maniac, snap,snack,enoch,moccasin, breeze, and some section hikers... full shelter!And, we have a park maintenance crew here who came up on horseback. That was fun to see. Snap spent time with them brushing down the horses for fun, and they offered her a job. Funny. Hokewa's shin is getting better, snap has been helping him out by massaging it at night. Hope it helps and keeps him on the trail.trail haikus are hardnot enough syllables for meto say things profoundEveryone is working out their trail schedules and attempting to figure out their resupply options today... we are all thinking of doing the same things. Looks like i will be with this crowd for a few more days at least. Good crowd...should be fun.
Date: 2008-04-19
From: Tri-corner Knob shelter

To: Standing Bear hostel
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: overcast clouds

DENIED!! I only got 4/6 views. I missed mt. guyot and mt. cammerer. Bummer! Today it was raining, and foggy and windy. Most of the time it was pouring, so just kept our heads down, and hiked. The visibility was bad, so we didn't even try for the views. So sad... so sad... i'll have to come back one day to get those views. I got the one i really cared about anyway - Clingman's Dome. It eventually cleared up but not till we were out of the park. Oh yeah, so i made it through the Smokies!! Another milestone down... yay!The hiking today was good... some ups, but mostly downs, and we were able to avg. 2.5 mph. I think i will miss the park; it was great for hiking, except for that second day through the "devil's tater patch" (no, really, that is what it is called on the map) of all ups and downs....So once again i got soaked, because i sweat faster than my goretex jacket can expel it. But when it cleared up, i had a chance to get out of the jacket, and dry up some. Thank goodness it is starting to warm up. I think i am going to design a jacket made out of diapers, with a waterproof shell. The waterproof shell will keep the rain out, and the diapers will absorb all my sweat, but leave me dry and comfortable, and happy. Just like the babies on the commercials. That will be sweet... i can't wait to hike down the trail giggling because i'm so dry....Anyway, back to the story...we rolled into the hostel around 4, and we were some of the last ones here... gobbles and hokewa and coach are tenting it, so i could have one of the last two bunk spaces. That was pretty cool of them. This is a fun place, and i would recommend it to any hikers passing through. Although i am in here with 13 other strangers, so we shall see how the sleeping part goes. I got showered and did my laundry (i had to do it by hand and use a washboard... a what? how does it work? how do you turn it on?) and i resupplied to get myself to Hot Springs 2 days away. I have enough breakfasts and dinners, but i needed to replenish my lunches.So i am dry and warm, sitting in my bunk, listening to all the other drunk hikers singing at the campfire here.. Funny to listen to...I only know a handful of the people here.. besides hokewa, gobbles, and coach...hatchet is here and doing well... his leg is healing... half elvis and breeze pushed through to be here, mountain mic and his uncle are here too (they are some of the people in the shelters whose names i didn't know) and then i am seeing a ton of new faces... people who are going slower and we have caught up to...Tomorrow we are shooting for max patch bald, and then our goal for monday is hot springs.Today was a long day, i think it's our longest day in terms of miles so far... not too bad... but time to get some sleep, tomorrow is mostly uphill, and i need to be rested for it...zzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Date: 2008-04-20
From: Standing Bear hostel

To: Roaring Fork shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: light rain

Bear! We have a large, black, furry visitor with us at the shelter tonight. A black bear has apparently decided that this is a good place to hang out. Especially if the shelter register is correct, and he's been stealing food sacks for a couple of days. Poorly hung sacks mean fat bears who like to visit shelters...This should make for an interesting night...The hike today was good. Lots of uphills, mostly uphills, actually. The grades were mostly good, till after lunch, then the trail got into a hurry to get us to the top of the mountains... whooo steep! It was overcast and sprinkling rain when we started out, and we quickly ascended into the clouds. We missed out on some great views because of the fog, but eventually the fog burned off, and we had mostly cloudy skies and chilly temps the rest of the day...The highlight of the day was Max Patch Bald, which has 360 degree views, which was amazing! I'm glad the weather cleared up for us to get some views. We also got trail magic up there. Thanks for the trail magic Spiff!! That was really cool! I got a banana, pizza and some cookies! mmmmm... good stuff... Too bad it was so cold and windy at the top... I would have liked to hang out there longer, but i started shivering pretty bad, so i had to keep moving.We got to the shelter, and read the register about the bear, but weren't sure if they were for real or not... looks like it was for real. Maybe that is why no one else was here when we rolled up. hmmmm.Tonight we have the breeze, ftienne, mountain mic, half-elvis, me and gobbles... Fun crew. Especially now that they are all hyped up about the bear.hokewa stayed behind at the hostel because in addition to his shins hurting, his feet were starting to hurt too. So he zeroed to let them heal. Hopefully i will see him again on the other side of erwin.It's cold again tonight. I hope it starts to warm up soon. I like warm weather better than cold... brrrrrr!Time for sleep... we're getting up early to get into hot springs earlier in the afternoon rather than later...
Date: 2008-04-21
From: Roaring Fork shelter

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: broken clouds

Whew! Long day. But a good hiking day....About the bear at the shelter... that was dramatic. So we saw the bear before we went to bed, and we got all our food on the roof of the shelter. Now that was a good thing and a foolish thing to do. Good because the bear couldn't get it. We couldn't find a tree with a good branch, so that is why we did it. It was foolish because it made the bear want to stick around and visit with us. Apparently, the bear came to visit twice... we scared it away both times. I only woke up for the 2 AM visit. But there was an earlier one. hiker dave had his tent knocked down and drug into the woods by the bear.. He came to sleep at the shelter with the rest of us, so he wasn't in it, thank goodness. But the bear tore up a corner of his fly, and some of the mesh paneling in the main part of the tent. Yoiks!With the break of dawn, gobbles, coach and i took off down the trail... we had 18 miles to go, and we wanted to get into town early enough for gobbles to get his mail drop. The hiking was good and went fast. The trail was kind to us today. Some very pretty sections, and lots of of flat... i like the flat.We got some lunchtime trail magic from the outfitters here in town... little cracker packs and candy, and granola bars and waters. Pretty cool.We got to town, and i got a place to stay - i am at the Alpine Court hotel. Nice rooms. There are tons of hikers here... lots of new faces... I seem to have caught up with a bunch... probably because of the snow up in the smokies, which made a lot of them bail into Gatlinburg for a day or two. Now i'm back in a crowd. So that will be good, since my hiking buddies are all gone temporarily...gobbles has gone off to Asheville, and i am hoping to catch up with him after Erwin...coach has gone home, but will come back once school is out, in order to spend more time on the trail. hokewa should be a day behind... at the moment.Hot springs is a cute little town... a bunch of us hung out at the paddler's pub this afternoon, while gobbles and coach waited for their rides. After that, i did my errands and washed up and went through my box and figured out my food needs to get to Erwin.... now just doing my journaling and packing up for tomorrow. I am hoping to get out by 10am or so. Only 11 miles for tomorrow...it will be weird hiking without my group... hope to meet some fun people in the next few days.
Date: 2008-04-22
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mountain shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Today was a short day, but one of those all uphill days again. I got my morning errands done, and i was on the trail by 10am. You start by walking out of town down the main street, and then once you cross the French Brod river, you start following that. It was cool to walk by the river for a while. Then came the steep uphill part...it was intense, but manageable. Then for a while, it was pretty level and was good walking. Constantly up, but still nice. I came across a dammed up pond with benches next to it, so i stopped and ate lunch there, and watched the fish swim around. Then began more steep uphills not long after that. I put my MP3 on today and wandered along the trail singing under my breath...i would have normally been belting out the tunes, but i was out of breath. Towards the end of the hike, was rich mountain fire tower, with 360 degree views. That was pretty awesome. I looked back to the smokies... impressive...and then tried to look forward, but that's always hard because i haven't tried to memorize where the trail goes. Usually, i just pick out the tallest mountains, and assume the trail will go over them. I've come to realize that the trail always tries to hit the tallest mountain in its immediate vicinity, so my assumption of the future path is usually pretty good. So then the last 2.7 here to the shelter seemed to last for an eternity... but i finally made it.I was tempted to go on because i ran across barefoot sage, forest gimp, and twinkletoes slackpacking south, and they were telling me about some place at allen gap with free food for hikers. But i decided to keep my day short, and let my feet rest some. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, so no point in killing myself. Yeah, it would shorten my day tomorrow if i went on, but there are no good camp places between here and the next shelter..Tonight we have dj and bob (not coach), pod and rhody, hiker dave and myself here. It's getting cold and windy out, so came into the hammock to journal a little early.Listening to them talk now...Surprised at how tired i am, for the short day. Should sleep pretty well tonight.