morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-04-18
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

We dropped down to the edge of the Smokies today. As the elevation lessened, the spring beauties began to re-appear on the ground. Jackets came off, the sun came out, and socks were stripped off and hung up to dry. Life is good! And, my appetite is back. As a result of the sweet terrain and weather, we hauled butt and did nearly 15 miles before 2:30 in the afternoon.Bad Influence, of the Stallionaires, pulled a 20 mile day today, and is here with the Gatlinburg crew at Davenport Gap Shelter. Steps Small, Mistah Cheeks, and Vegas Jim are about 1/2 a day behind. Also at the shelter with us is Low Branch and Snow Plow. Earlier, we had a group tooth flossing session...proof that our sense of decency and personal space has been eroded by trail life. Ahhh...to be able to scratch bellies and pop blisters in the company of others.In the past 50 miles, something has happened to our bodies. We pull up hills without losing our stride, find 15 mile days to be easy, and barely feel our packs on our backs as Bad Influence observed today. I can't wait for the magical six week mark when we turn into "hiking machines". What then?!I love the quiet time at the end of the night when the fire is roaring and sleeping bags are rustling in the shelters. Everything feels still and safe and comfortable. I find myself struggling every night to stay awake to savor this. But, before I know it, the sun is rising over the edge of the mountains, and it's time to hustle and eat and head down the trail to do some more miles.
Date: 2007-04-19
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: light rain

A great day today! We did a drive-by at Standing Bear Farm to re-supply for the next 2 days. It's a century old mish mash of primitive looking buildings set close to the A.T. Re-supply runs on the honor system: help yourself to whatever you need, tally up the price, and drop your money in a wooden box. Now that's the sort of self check out operation I can appreciate. The honor system actually works out here.Also on today's roster were two pretty hefty climbs out of Davenport Gap and up to the summit of Max Patch. Max Patch was awesome and featured lingering snow and icy biting winds. Spaceman and I hustled across, and I mashed my camera with my numb frozen hand to get some photos en route. It was the neatest spot on the A.T. so far, and I had a big stupid grin on my face during the whole march across it.The signage today was off the hook. Evidentally, Roaring Fork Shelter was moved at some point (meaning we are without roaring fork action tonight), and the signs reflected an amusing combination of the old mileage, the new mileage, and also some straight-up irrational mileage. At one point, the signs indicated that I was hiking negative miles. Trippy! The best sign was an elaborately carved and painted "water" sign. It was located about 3 feet from the loudest, most obvious creek in the world. Hilarious... I'm sure the person who made the sign had an odd sense of humor or way too much spare time. I'd like to sit down with him and pick his brain (...Forrest adds "with and ice ax" to this sentence). Anyways, I appreciate the aesthetics of funky wood carved park signs, if nothing else.Tommorrow, we'll be back down at 2,300 feet where it's warm and toasty. We're planning on staying at the Deer Park Mountain Shelter and pulling a nero into Hot Springs on Saturday. It still amazes me that 1,000 feet of elevation can have such a big impact on the temperature.The trail offered up a new sensory experience for me today. I've been sadly negligent about shaving my legs for, oh, about 3 weeks now. Early in the afternoon, the wind picked up and blew through my leg hair. What a startling sensation it was! Like nails on a chalkboard but nicer!
Date: 2007-04-20
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: overcast clouds

A perfect moment comes at you like a slap in the face or a bolt of lightning. Today, walking with my headphones on, I tuned in to the local NPR station. Patty Griffin's clear beautiful voice comes on and the notes hung above the valley. My arms and legs are silently whirring downhill. Everything is perfect for an instant. 250+ miles in, and this moment is more than adequate a reward for the calories consumed and the hours spent walking. I have to shake my head and wonder what fate dropped this beautiful long walk into my life. My feet sent me a memo today. It read:"Dear Boss, it has recently come to our attention that our work conditions are deteriorating. First of all, we demand clean socks. Also, the soles peeling off our shoes is hardly good for morale. We demand minimum wage, a good 401K, and a day at Hot Springs getting our working class soak on. If not, we will organize and fight. Thank you, Signed- your feet."The feet got their wish, and the day ended in Hot Springs with plans for a big foot soak break at the springs. Hot Springs is an ideal little town. We descended gradually into it, and from above, it looked like a tiny postage stamp of a town with small white buildings and checker board fields. On closer inspection, the town was even better since it's a little rough around the edges: a mixture of hillbilly and crunchy, if you will. Perfectly suited for me.No trip to Hot Springs is complete without a visit to the venerable Paddler's Pub. The pub is a popular watering hole for kayakers, hikers and a few of the random tough guys. It's chaos, and being served isn't guaranteed (the owners just had a family emergency, so the place is temporarily short staffed), but the atmosphere is top notch. The A.T. runs through town right past the pub and other businesses, making a trip to the pub equate A.T. miles walked...always a good thing.We were planning on stealth camping to save money but ended up throwing down ten dollars for campsites on the edge of town. The guy operating the campground informed us that he only had one, ten dollar site left and the rest cost twenty. So, we all shared a little plot of land close to the other thru hikers, while the remainder of the campground remained empty, huh? It also looks as though we're perched at the border of a massive junkyard. And you know what? I think it's just fine because my belly is full, my feet are dry, and I'm with my friends.
Date: 2007-04-21
From: Hot Springs

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Not only is our campsite located next to a junkyard, it's also quite close to railroad tracks. In the middle of the night, a freight train barrelled past us while we slept.I didn't fully wake up when it passed, but instead, had a dream that a "re-supply train" full of Ramen and drink mix was coming to meet us at the campground. How delightful!We had every intention of sleeping in, but a pack of rowdy roosters strutted through, around, and over the campground. Both Forrest and Bad Influence woke up wanting chicken for breakfast, the thought of rooster blood on their hands.I discovered a wanted poster with my picture on it on the front of the Bluff Mountain Outfitter. The poster features a photo of me sporting my 'stache and read: "Warning: Do not approach this man. He is considered dangerous and can lure hkers into distracting games of dialogue and chess. Although he is known by many alias' he commonly goes by Heinreig the Svengali. Do not make eye contact! You will become transfixed as he makes off with your prize hen."Whew! I'm a wanted hiker...I can only assume that Lala and G-Smurf played some small role in this prank. Now, time to get even. I only have to hike a few 50 mile days to catch up with Lala. Drat!! Anyways, the guys at the outfitter now refer to me as "Svengali". Too funny!!Speaking of Lala and G-Smurf, G'Smurf had to get off the trail for a couple of days for very significant reasons. Despite this, she still has legendary status amongst us because of the sick mileage she pulled. Lala is now in Erwin waiting for us to catch up with him. It'll be a happy reunion.To complete our Hot Springs experience, we hit the hot tubs across the street at the spa/resort. Evidentally, this resort used to be a chic vacation destination. Now, it's a run-down collection of outbuildings catering to rural southern high rollers and sore thru hikers. The water was divine, and I really do feel like our hour long soak had curative powers. Or, it gave me a rash.After the soak at the spa, we hit up Paddler's Pub for dinner,and then went for a drive just for the novelty of it. Forrest's friend, Dan, drove in to visit for the day and we piled into his car to go for a frighteningly fast 45 mph tour of the Hot Springs country side. Anything over 2 to 3 miles per hour feels a little reckless these days.Spaceman, Bad Influence, Forrest, Dan and myself are at the rooster infested junkyard campground, and Two Dogs and Grin are at a B&B with Two dogs' daughter. Grin's going to meet up with us to hike out while Two Dogs is going to spend time with his daughter hiking southbound back to the springs after getting a shuttle. He'll catch up with us down the trail.
Date: 2007-04-22
From: Hot Springs

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

The hiker box is a many splendored thing. For those of you not in the know, a hiker box is a recepticle left out in the post office, outfitters, hostel, etc. where hikers leave their unwanted stuff. It's a veritable free store of food, sunblock, Purrell, and other goodies. Since we have to carry all of our belongings on our backs, we're pretty fussy about our chosen cargo. If a four ounce muffin doesn't look delicious enough to justify carrying the weight, into the hiker box it goes. Early on in this hike, the hiker boxes were filled with some pretty ludicrous things such as full size containers of soap and meticulously packaged freeze dried monstrosities bearing no lables. Now that we've all walked a bit, the hiker box is sporting more qualtity stuff. It's like picking through the curb side trash in a very upscale neighborhood. I fully grasped the magic of the hiker box as Spaceman and I grabbed Q-Tips out of it yesterday and happily probed our ears on the walk to the post office.Hot Springs was great. The owner of the campground acted like a bit of a sheep turd, but everyone else was awesome. I can imagine myself settling down in a town like Hot Springs and being the town's librarian/hiker.Barking Spider took a slack into Hot Springs southbound and warned us that the climb out of town was beastly. Sorry B.S. it was a piece of cake! A minor blip on our elevation radar. Despite the easy climb, we managed to justify a decadent lunch break next to a pond. It felt like a long day, as all first days after a zero seem to be. But, as always, it's a pleasant relief to be tramping through the woods once more. I'm blissed out by the sun, the trees, and the beautiful company.
Date: 2007-04-23
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

The wind in the mountains has a definite physical presence which doesn't exist in the city. The evening winds have been the music I've been falling asleep to. As the sun lowers and the temperature changes in the air, the winds begin to shuttle through the fissures between the mountains in an attempt to create stability in the air pressure. These winds buffet the underside of my hammock much like a shark's nose testing a small boat's hull. When strong enough, the winds envelop me and set me to rocking like a seed pod. Sailors have many different terms for the wind-- it's a wonder that hiker vocabularies aren't as equally endowed. There are the gentle winds that pop up to cool one off on a hot day, the fierce blasting cold winds of high elevations during poor weather, the constant sigh of breezes during the evening time... all deserving of the recognition of a proper name. I feel a bit like a victorian naturalist setting out to give existence to or tame a thing that's larger than myself through mere naming though. What I should do is close my eyes and empty my thoughts as the breezes set my hammock rocking.We had some awesome trail magic today courtesy of Jodie and John Nelson (AT '99). After coming down the hill from the shelter, we saw a small sign near the road crossing advertising trail magic. It was some high class stuff with 3 courses; Belgian waffles, veggie stew, and a fabulous ice cream concoction. Oh, I almost forgot the ice cold lemonade. Oh man, it was so good, I almost cried.After our feast, we schlepped through the mountains with very full bellies and in very warm temperatures. Mid-day brought even higher temperatures and a sweaty full-bellied rest at Little Laurel Shelter with Bad Influence, Space Man, Forrest, Little Sister, Kevin, Dan, the dogs, and the 2 hikers from Orange County. Post break, we hit a fun section of trail marked with a sign offering two options: A. "Exposed Ridgeline" or B. "Bad weather blue blaze". The ridgeline was a fun-filled boulder hopping end to the day.After supper, we had our pots cleaned out by Bailey the dog's tongue-- awesome way to cut down on camp chores. A couple locals were messing around in the valley building a hot water bed survival contraption using the creek and lots of fire. Forrest tried to get water today and noticed that the pipe was running slow. He followed the pipe to the source and found a frog clogging the works up. In other news, one of the hikers here before us set fire to the contents of the privy by throwing a cigarette in it. Nasty fire. Sorry I missed the spectacle. Smokey The Bear is recoiling in horror.
Date: 2007-04-24
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hog Back Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: overcast clouds

It's my one month anniversary on the trail today. It's hard to believe I've been out here for an entire month. Of course, I've gotten to the point where I can barely imagine waking up, going to the gym, going to work, and riding the subway. Walking around the woods all day is so much better.My appetite hasn't plateaued yet. I'm almost through my foodbag, and I have a day and a half left until I get to Erwin. Time to ration! I've been lucky snagging scraps of food from other hiker's leftovers, off of the ground, from wherever, though. It's impossible to starve out here. Sometimes, it's hard to go a little hungry even.There's a stray dog at Hogback Ridge with us tonight-- a handsome friendly blue tick hound. He's been following hikers through the woods and, like me, is begging scraps as he goes. There are dogs all over camp tonight -- Bailey, Maximus, and the stray hound. It's like this place was made for dogs. It's great - lots of pot licking and tail wagging.In order to spread the word of the hammock, Spaceman and I are pulling the ol' shelter switcheroo tonight. I'm going to let him test drive my hammock (test sleep?), while I crash in his tent. Hopefully, he'll enjoy it and I know I'll be loving the change of scenery.P.S. I drank 6 liters of water today. And, the privy is really far away. Oh dear!
Date: 2007-04-25
From: Hog Back Ridge Shelter

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: overcast clouds

The hammock and tent switcheroo would have been a moderate success had the stray coon hound not had an all-night chewing fest. The stray dog, Blue a.k.a. Buck a.k.a Boo Boo a.k.a Lee Roy, chewed up Don's stove and Spaceman's water bottle. Evidentally, he was gnawing through the metal stove mere feet from my head while I slept. Yogi, quasi adopted him for the day, decided he was too much to handle, and walked him to route 19 to take him into Erwin and dispose of him.Today's hike took us up and over Big Bald. It was on par with Max Patch with its views. The ascent was blanketed with spring beauties and had a flowery smell which overpowered my hiker stench.Two of the guys from our group are looking into purchasing hiking kilts (that's fancy talk for man skirt). Yes, Bad Influence and Spaceman are tired of hiding their legs behind prudish pants and shorts -- they're ready to show some leg on the A.T. I'm wondering how this will affect our ability to get a hitch into town?Tommorrow, we're going to do a quick ten mile hustle into Erwin where we'll get a bunk (hopefully) at Miss Janet's and nero the following day. The word on the trail is that some weather is rolling into the area, so it looks like we'll be missing out on the worst of it. We've also got our sight on scoring at the Chinese Buffet.The trail magic for the day: we found a thermos full of piping hot coffee randomly left on the trail near the ascent to Big Bald. It came complete with sugar and cream and helped to power me up the side of the mountain with its caffeinated goodness. Amazingly perfect gift from trail angels.
Date: 2007-04-26
From: Spivey Gap

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Here sitting in Miss Janet's backyard listening to an impromptu bluegrass band while a 3 legged dog runs under the picnic table. It's one of those "life is good" moments. Did I mention that I have a cold beer in my hand? Or that I've showered? Or that my belly is full of AYCE magic? Well....The random stray coon dog (rather, "bear dog" as I was later informed) created quiet a stir on the trail the past 24 hours. Yogi had volunteered to take the dog into Erwin at Rt. 19. A good deed on his part, but what unfolded proves that no good deed goes unpunished. Evidentally, Yogi left the dog with someone at Rt. 19. The person turned him in and an undercover cop disguised as a hiker went to Uncle Johnny's and led him out in handcuffs. He spent the night in jail before things were sorted out. The owner of the stray dog (who ended up being a pricey hound) thought that the dog had been stolen and sought revenge. At least he wasn't a gun toting vigilante.... Yogi had that in his favor. As a result of this missing hound, we had the Sheriff visit our campsite at Spivey Gap last night. I managed to sleep through it, but I later heard that they raised a ruckus shining their flashlights into peoples' tents. Maybe they thought we were part of some coon hound theft ring? All I can say is... guilty until proven innocent. Or er... Lala and I have been reunited. He's been zeroing in Erwin for a ridiculous amount of time. Word on the street is that he stayed 5 days and got his 6th night free. What a deal!
Date: 2007-04-27
From: Erwin, TN

To: Campsite Near Indian Grave Gap
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

Miss Janet's is one of the most lovable madhouses around. There are hikers and hiking gear sprawled out over every surface here. The kitchen door is continually creaking open on its hinges and slamming shut, and I swear, the bathroom is in use 24 hours a day. We went to bed early last night, but the general ruckus continued on into the wee hours. I awoke to the sound of someone puking in the bathroom next to us. It's like being in a college dorm, but so much better. This is a place that every A.T. hiker should experience. I sort of wish I'd grown up in a household like Miss Janet's.We're back in the woods once more. It's becoming a comfortable cycle of re-entry and departure into and out of civilization. Every time, going into the woods gets easier, more comfortable, more inviting. Town is a pleasant necessity, but it sets my head to buzzing and overwhelms the senses. Out in the woods, I have a routine, and I feel comfortable.I pulled a clever MacGuiver and cut my shorts up and re=sewed them to make a skirt. It looks a little bit risque, but it'll do okay until I find a more suitable summer skirt solution. Now let's hope the seams hold on those uphills.Our group is making an attempt to move away from using shelters as stopping places at the end of the day. There's certainly a convenience factor to having a roof, privy and water source, but the set mileage is becoming stifling-- particularly so since the Smokies. It's also nice to be away from the crowds of other hikers and the noise and debris that they generate. So tonight, we're at a little random nook in the side of the mountain with a handful of other thru hikers. The moon is out, and there's a faint red glow in the sky left over from the sunset.Lala has rejoined our group after his hiatus at Miss Janet's. We're now seven people strong: Myself, Lala, Spaceman, Forrest, Bad Influence, Grin, and I believe, Two Dogs may be with us soon too. They're my family in the woods.
Date: 2007-04-28
From: Campsite Near Indian Grave Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: light rain

My radio, particularly when it plays NPR, is becoming one of my closest allies on the trail. Nothing helps me to power up a mountain like "Fresh Air" or "All Things Considered". Today, there was a show where David Wilcox played live. One of his songs began, "Gettin' out. Getting stuff in storage. The first mile is the hardest." The song references the time when Wilcox, his wife, and son sold their home to live in an Airstream trailer pulled by a biodiesel powered truck. It was Wilcox's wife's idea to sell the house. She wanted to eliminate the temptation of comfort and stability that the house provided. I can appreciate that sort of grand gesture. The lyrics were a reminder to me that I've shucked everything to come out here. I needed a reminder of that, a litte prod to let me realize that I have more stability in my present state than I ever had before.I love the company I keep out here, but today, I had to slip away to do some thinking, to get into my head a little. It's too easy to revel in fart jokes and town stories when other hikers are around. I certainly didn't come out here purely to do mental housekeeping, but I feel an obligation to spend a part of every day walking and thinking. Sometimes, I think about how I'd like to own chickens when I finish the trail, other times, the thinking gets more personal and difficult to navigate. I've noticed that the miles slip by more quickly when the thinking is harder.Today's hike and thoughts took me past the beatuy spot and up and over Unaka Mountain. The first half of the day was moderately tough. The second half was a breeze. Somtime during late afternoon, I hiked up a mountain and into a cloud. In the midst of the cloud, a line of colorful Tibetan prayer flags were strung between two saplings.We saw our first evidence of hostitlity to hikers today. There was a sign at Greasy Creek Gap explaining the situation with a local hiker hater who likes to yell and tear down trail signs. Cheeks and Step Small were planing on visting a hostel in the area. Let's hope they don't run into Virgil and his rope.