morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-05-13
From: Sprivey Gap

To: Nolichucky River, TN
Miles today: 11.2

Another beautiful weather day! Got an early start from Spivey Gap...straight uphill...who needs coffee?The trail was nicely graded and not as much mud as yesterday. We met very few people on this stretch. And we are surprised at the scarcity of animals on the trail in TN/NC. We have heard about bears around here but have not seen any or any evidence. That's a good thing. But no deer, squirrels or other creatures. Bugsy did spy a wild turkey as we were getting out of our car and I saw a lone chipmunk, but that's about it.The views of Erwin and the Nolichucky River toward the end of the hike were great. We retreived our second car (you were wondering how we manage to do these various stretches) from Uncle Johnny's and off we went to look at starting points for the next few days' hikes.The town of Erwin is a very cute town with its own movie theater, something we have not seen since Pine Grove, PA. We have enjoyed riding through the streets in our search for restaurants. This town, however, would be almost impossible for a hiker without a car as it is very spread out.Happy trails!Bugsy and Burly Girl...doing the AT one day at a time...
Date: 2009-05-14
From: Indian Grave Gap, TN

To: Nolichucky River, TN
Miles today: 8.3

OK...so this was our destination yesterday. Only today we drove the second car up to Indian Grave Gap and hiked back downhill (going south) to the river. It was a great/easy hike, but it threw us at the end as we had to climb up the hill/cliff over the river to exit near the car bridge over the river.At any rate we had our 3rd good weather day. Didn't meet many thru hikers as everyone has taken off north to attend Trail Days in Damascus. As a matter of fact, after our hike we were placing our second car at Devil Fork Gap for the hike tomorrow when we met Jason and Lucas from TX. They needed a ride to the Interstate to hitch on up to Damascus so we took them (apparently you can not hitchhike in TN so we took them to the NC border, just shy of TN). Hope you guys made it...have a good time, but not too good a time as you have many miles to go!Happy trails!Bugsy and Burly Girl...doing the AT...one day at a time...
Date: 2009-05-15
From: Sams Gap TN

To: Devils Fork Gap NC
Miles today: 8.5

Our 4th good weather day in a row (although it did become humid and buggy at the end). It poured last night and all of the rivers here are overflowing... quite remarkable!This hike took us up and over many steeps in the beginning then downward for the last 3rd of the hike.Met Butt Chin and Pilgrim (with his dog), the only thru hikers. Also met 3 nice section hikers from Indiana doing the trail the same way we are...one week at a time. Good luck guys.Due to the swollen river, we saw a fantastic waterfall at the end. And we were able to do all of our stream crossings with no problem.We decided to return home tomorrow after 4 good days. Hopefully we will make it up to NH to finish our missing piece in 2 weeks plus do a hike or two in ME. We are now trying to pick off the hard parts (this year) so that we can finish our 20 year journey in 2010 with all of the leftover pieces that we missed.Hope you are all having fun (but not too much fun) at Trail Days!Happy trails!Bugsy and Burly Girl...doing the AT one day at a time...
Date: 2009-06-08
From: Tanyard Gap

To: Allen Gap
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: broken clouds

We¢re back down to TN/NC after a brief visit to finish a ¢missing link¢ in NH. What a difference in temperature/humidity. It¢s now in the 80¢s and quite humid. Trail Access:Both access points today were major roads with easy parking. The Hike:We went south to north to get the hard work over in the morning. We took a break at the Mt. Rich Fire Tower and climbed it. It is very much worth the .2 mi uphill off the AT. The views were excellent and a wonderful breeze brought the temps down by 5 degrees. It was a nice trail the whole distance. The entire length of the trail was good hiking. Next stop was Spring Mt. Shelter. We met 3 section hikers, one who is writing trail recipes and has a website, the other two were at the shelter. They had an electronic GPS device called ¢Spot¢. It would email their location to a contact list whose members could then view their location on googlemaps. There was a button to send a distress message and another button for 911 (search and rescue). Very interesting... something to look into.
Date: 2009-06-08
From: Tanyard Gap

To: Allen Gap TN/NC
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: broken clouds

We¢re back down to TN/NC after a brief visit to finish a ¢missing link¢ in NH. What a difference in temperature/humidity. It¢s now in the 80¢s and quite humid. Trail Access:Both access points today were major roads with easy parking. The Hike:We went south to north to get the hard work over in the morning. We took a break at the Mt. Rich Fire Tower and climbed it. It is very much worth the .2 mi uphill off the AT. The views were excellent and a wonderful breeze brought the temps down by 5 degrees. It was a nice trail the whole distance. The entire length of the trail was good hiking. Next stop was Spring Mt. Shelter. We met 3 section hikers, one who is writing trail recipes and has a website, the other two were at the shelter. They had an electronic GPS device called ¢Spot¢. It would email their location to a contact list whose members could then view their location on googlemaps. There was a button to send a distress message and another button for 911 (search and rescue). Very interesting... something to look into.
Date: 2009-06-09
From: Jones Meadow Side Trail

To: Allen Gap TN/NC
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: broken clouds

6/9/09Starting Point: Jones Meadow Side TrailTo: Allen GapMi: 8.1 North to SouthTrail Access:The road access to Allen Gap was easy with a large parking area at an old abandoned general store. To access Jones Meadow, we went about 9 mi on Upper Paint Creek Rd. The first half was paved/the 2nd half was a good gravel road. We went to the north end of Jones Meadow on a paved road leftover from a failed real estate development. We found a dirt road and a gray blazed trail which took us about 14 mile up and over the ridge to the AT¢¦good scouting on Bugsy¢s part yesterday!   There are other access trails from Jones Meadow or Camp Creek Bald, but this better divided up the 20 miles between Allen Gap and Devil¢s Gap.The Hike: This was mostly an easy, level trail, but steep and rocky at the beginning. As far as we can tell Camp Creek Bald is not a ¢bald¢¢¦certainly nothing you can see from the trail. There are great views from Jones Meadow, but that would take a side trail off the AT.We stopped in Little Laurel Shelter for a break¢¦it was a pigpen! Trash everywhere, the picnic table seats were broken, parts of the shelter floor were broken¢¦either tear it down or fix it up!!At the end of the hike we met up with some Boy Scouts who lost one of their leaders (hope you found him) and with one of the section hikers (Loadbearing) from yesterday who had sprained his ankle. We gave him a ride to Hemlock Hollow Hostel where he was meeting his nephew who had gone ahead to get him a ride to the hostel. Bet his nephew was surprised to see him sitting on the porch of the hostel waiting for him!Wildlife: One snake the size of a piece of fettucine! We are enjoying the town of Hot Springs and are hoping to soak in the springs one of these nights. This is a small town with an outfitter, a great little caf©/restaurant on the river, another nice restaurant in an old restored hotel, and the AT goes right down main street. We have been getting breakfast sandwiches, lunch, and ice for the cooler from the Hot Springs camp store which has a little bit of everything.
Date: 2009-06-10
From: Jones Meadow Side Trail

To: Devil Fork Gap NC
Miles today: 12.2

The Access:Side trail from Jones Meadow¢see hike for 6/9/09; Devil Fork Gap; Devil Fork Gap¢another easy access. Very large parking area on TN Rt 212 right on the TN/NC State Line at a crest on the hill.The Hike:Again, we walked .25 miles from Jones Meadow to the AT and this time headed north. The trail was rocky and rough through here as we were on the top of the ridge. We came to what looked like a new sign with a blue blaze trail leading left. This is the bad weather trail and it was the old AT. The local trail club did a great job of stacking stones for the rough ridge walk. Thanks! There were wonderful views in and out for at least the next mile. This would not be a good place to be in a summer or winter storm or in wet conditions. Took a break at the Jerry Cabin Shelter, then it was up again to Big Butt. Burly Girl was looking for a photo op, but there were no signs, so we moved on. After a short steep descent, we were very pleased to come upon a flat, soft woods road that was not mentioned in the book. We ended up following this road and making great time for the next few miles. What a great piece of trail magic!The hike down to Flint Mt. Shelter was very steep and hard on the knees. There were a lot of thru hiker notes about this in the shelter journal. After a break and nap we headed down and out¢¦Wildlife:On two separate occasions we were surprised by ruffed grouse attempting to lead us away from their respective nests and young ones. On the first occasion we were walking down the trail and must have gotten too close to the nest. There was a racket in the underbrush and a moaning sound. The feathers that protruded above the ferns and underbrush looked like something out of Jurassic Park!On the second occasion we were sitting on some logs eating lunch and out of nowhere came this troubled bird moaning and ¢faking it¢ to get our attention. Several times, she popped up into a tree so we could see her. We could hear the chicks in the distance.Little Black Flies (or whatever they were)¢Here we are in the south waiting for black fly season to be over in Maine so we can finish that state. But they found Bugsy and later, me down here in TN and had a true buffet. You can¢t feel them biting, and we will head home with some great souvenir welts!
Date: 2009-06-11
From: Garenflo Gap

To: Hot Springs NC
Miles today: 6.6

The Access:We had located Garenflo Gap the day before after one false turn on a mountaintop road that produced nothing but houses. The correct way was Rt 209 south out of Hot Springs on a twisty windy road (with some great views) to Garenflo Gap Rd. We went about 1.5 mi up the paved road which then continued for .25 miles on a gravel road to a parking area for about 4 cars. The end of our hike was the center of Hot Springs¢¦very cool. You leave the woods and immediately see the AT symbol in the middle of the road crosswalk, then along the sidewalks into town.The Hike:We did this hike in record time¢¦but more about that in a minute. We got a nice early start because the weather station reported an increased chance of thunderstorms after lunch. Near the trailhead a trail angel had left a plastic storage container of water and food. Unfortunately, this had been totally torn up by Mr. Bear with plastic and trash everywhere. Another mile into the hike, we discovered the telltale signs of bear ¢residue¢ with bits of paper and plastic mixed in (talk about roughage!).In another mile, we ran into the southbound Boy Scout troop we had seen on our hike two days before at Allen Gap. We asked about the plight of their lost leader and they said that they had gone back onto the trail and found him. He was having chest pains (apparently he had 2 stents and had had several bypasses). He was safe and now off the trail in Hot Springs. We reached the Deer Park Mt. Shelter and met two very nice section hikers who had spent the night with the Boys Scouts remarking what nice young men they were. Midway through our conversation, we heard rumbling in the distance. No, not the bear, but thunder. Bugsy and I decided to hightail it to town as the weather was only going to get worse as the day went on, and we only had 3 miles to go. What do you do? We could have waited out the storm in a metal roof shelter on top of a ridge, or taken a chance with hiking in a potential lightening storm. This turned out to be a little scary. There we were walking the ridge and hoping that the elevation dropped us into the woods soon. It was an unusual mid-day lightening storm. At first Bugsy counted 3 seconds between the lightening and the thunder. It then went to 5 seconds and we thought we were home free. Then¢¦just as we were at the highest point of our hike, there was a flash of lightening and immediate thunder. Bugsy took off like an Olympic runner with me not far behind. All I could think of was the recent trailjournals comments on the 4 hikers that were recently struck by lightening near the Delaware Water Gap (all survived). To read about advice on hiking in lightening, go to the trailjournals forum site. Memo to self: re-read this one and print it out! Our speed for the next mile of the ridge was impressive! We started to dip down into town without further lightening, but in the meantime the heavens opened up and we were walking in a stream and were totally soaked.Back in Hot Springs on the AT sidewalks the sun broke out¢¦
Date: 2009-06-12
From: Tanyard Gap

To: Hot Springs NC
Miles today: 5.9

Trail Access:This was an easy one! Tanyard Gap parking area is on an abandoned road right beside where Rt 25/70 comes up out of Hot Springs. The end of our hike today was the middle of Hot Springs and a short walk to where we stayed¢¦Springbrook Cabins¢¦very nice duplex cabins backing up a creek that runs through town. The back deck off the bedroom overlooks the creek and several fire circles that you can use plus a covered picnic table area.The Hike:Are we glad that we did this one from north to south. We first walked on an overpass (old highway) over Rt 25/70. Then into the woods and after a short while came across a quiet pond with benches around it, being held back by a huge concrete dam.Then a ridge walk with partial views down to the river, which, due to the recent heavy rains looked like chocolate milk. The river appeared to be twice its normal size and as we descended from the ridge, the ¢roar¢ got louder. After that we came to what we thought was Lovers Leap, but it wasn¢t¢¦the first of three rock outcroppings that afforded nice views of the river and Hot Springs. Coming down off of Lovers Leap would not be fun in rainy weather. The final 1.5 mile down was steep and rugged, hence, the joy of being southbound on this hike. When we reached the river we found several thru hikers camped out in some neat, secluded spots, drying out laundry from the previous two rainy days. We also passed through the Nantahala Camp (Hot Springs site as opposed to the main campus down south), a center for river sports. It was fun to leave the woods and river and cross the large highway bridge into Hot Springs, once again seeing the AT symbols emblazoned in the sidewalks.We¢re checking out of Hot Springs tomorrow and driving north to complete a section near Erwin that we skipped.
Date: 2009-06-22
From: Snowbird Mt TN/NC

To: Davenport Gap TN/NC
Miles today: 7.1

OK...one week at home to clean up bills, work (a definite 4 letter word), celebrate Fathers Day/birthdays/graduations...great time!, and now back down south to eat up some more southern miles. Access:There is a small parking area at Davenport Gap right where the AT crosses at the intersection of gravel road NC 284 and paved TN 32 ...this was the easy access...Now for the challenging northern access. We have been following a website of someone (thank you, thank you, thank you!) who has researched every road/trail crossing of the entire AT. For those of you choosing to hike the AT one day at a time like we are (avoiding sleeping out), here is the link:http://rohland.homedns.org/at/at_menu.aspxAt any rate, re our access to Snowbird MT, it was not originally listed on his site, but someone wrote in and said that 'when conditions are right, I can get up the road to Snowbird'. So Bugsy and Burly Girl, feeling lucky on this particular day, chose to take the challenge in their compact Enterprise rental car (remember, we rent a car so that there are cars at each end of all hikes). Burly Girl was doing a great driving job on the gravel road until the incline became close to vertical. That was it for the poor rental car. We parked it right there at a grassy bumpout in the road, put the emergency brake on, put 2 large rocks behind the rear wheels and said 'see you tomorrow'.We then hiked up the gravel road for about a mile, praying that we would find the trail, and lo and behold, beyond an FAA communication tower (with all kinds of warnings that if we touched it we might cause civilian death), we found the familiar white blazes. Yee ha!The Hike:It was incredibly easy and nice to hike down from the top of Snowbird. The top of Snowbird is an open grassy area and we don't know about views because we were hiking in a cloud. The first 3 miles were on a broad old woods road. We only met one thru hiker who had left Springer in mid May (Ricky--no trail name yet, but after talking to him, we feel that Mr. Blister would be a good one!). On down the trail it turned rougher, but still nice and after lunch we descended to a gravel road, Waterville Rd and then the first of several difficult stream crossings. Seems that they had a ton of rain here yesterday and there are no bridges over these streams, hence, two pair of totally soaked boots on day #1!A major uphill after the first river, then down to Rt 40 where we passed under that (horrid to drive on) road. Across a bridge over Pigeon Creek with a lot of white water rafters, then up a mountain and across 3 more of these swollen streams. One had a beautiful waterfall. Back to the car at Davenport Gap and 'home' to Hot Springs, NC.Wildlife: One spunky chipmunk and 1,000 gnats...
Date: 2009-06-23
From: Max Patch Rd NC

To: Snowbird Mt. NC/TN
Miles today: 8.1

Access:The northern end, Max Patch Rd, is a dirt/gravel road. We accessed it from Hot Springs, NC via Rt 209 then Meadow Fork Rd, then Little Creek Rd and finally Max Patch Rd. The entire journey is about 20 miles, but due to the windy/gravel roads, took almost an hour.The southern end was accessed by Grassy Fork Rd (see yesterday's writeup)...the good news is when we got there today, the Enterprise rental car was still there and intact!The Hike:The section of the trail between Max Patch Rd and Snowbird Mt is nicely graded, wide, not many roots and rocks but is steep, both up and down. We went the North to South direction because there is less elevation gain, however, the last 1300+ up going to Snowbird Mt seemed longer than it was due to the temperature and the humidity. There is not a lot to say about the rest of the trail as there were no views. We did come across a couple of neat mushrooms, but that's about it.Wildlife: Where is it?? We have been down here for several weeks and have neither seen nor heard anything moving in the bushes (maybe this is good!). Aside from the beautiful bird noises in the trees we feel that nothing else lives here. Could it be that all of the hunters down here shoot all animals before they reach the age of 3?? Someone answer...
Date: 2009-06-25
From: Lemon Gap NC/TN

To: Garenflo Gap
Miles today: 7.8

Trail Access:We are accessing this section of the trail from Hot Springs, NC. Lemon Gap: See yesterday's description of this access.Garenflo Gap: South out of Hot Springs on Rt 209 about 7 miles; right on Garenflo Gap Rd for about 2 mi; the last 1/2 mile is a dirt road ending at an AT parking area.The Hike:It took us an hour/20 min to get from Hot Springs to Lemon Gap. It was another nice day with relatively low humidity. Once again, at the start of the hike there were bear warning signs for Walnut Mt Shelter. The first 1.5 mi was uphill to Walnut Mt and Walnut Mt Shelter and we arrived at the shelterin about an hour. We met 2 section hikers who had spent the night there and did not report any bear activity. Just after leaving the shelter, we saw the first of several bear 'evidences'...It was downhill for about a mile to Kale Gap, then up again for .7 mile to Cat Pen Gap, a grassy area, which we accessed by a short side trail. Our guidebook said we would have views back to Max Patch, but the trees have grown up and no view was available (remember these guidebooks are the 'latest' but many are over 10 years old). Following notes in our Appalachian Trail Guide, we went further east on a woods road and came out on a knob which was covered with grass and blackberry bushes. From this, we had a nice view back to Max Patch, Snowbird Mt (the FAA tower) and the Smokies. But Burly Girl was nervous with the bear 'evidence' sitings, so we headed back to the AT 'proper'. We climbed to the summit of Bluff Mt, elevation 4,686' with some very large boulders on the summit (no views). The next four miles were down over 2000' to Garenflo Gap. The trail was very nice, gentle, well-graded and crossed several streams.   Wildlife:Today was a little better than the last few days. As noted above, we ran into bear 'evidence'...so much for not seeing any wildlife in these parts. We never did see a bear today, but did get startled by a bird in the brush right beside the trail. Bugsy thinks it was a female pheasant, but Burly Girl said it might have been a grouse or pterodactyl.We also heard an owl in the distance and several woodpeckers. Up on Cat Pen Gap we saw a lone rabbit.But the big story of today was that it was Bugsy's 65th birthday. We celebrated the end of a nice hike with a cold beer, hot shower, delicious southern barbeque and clean sheets...this is the way we are hiking the trail and are enjoying every second.More Wildlife:Tomorrow we check out of Hot Springs, unfortunately, and are heading north to do a 16 mile stretch that we had left out from Watauga Dam to Rt 91. This is just as all the motorcycles are arriving in Hot Springs for their 13th annual weekend roundup! Here is a link:http://www.visitnc.com/events/view/36446/hot-springs-motorcycle-weekend It's getting noisy here tonight, so off we go tomorrow...!Happy Birthday Bugsy!