morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-05-03
From: Campsite

To: Hemlock Hollow Farm
Miles today: 8.1

I was sticky in my sleeping bag all night long. I usually wear my long johns but didn¢t last night. I was too warm in my bag but it was too cool to leave it unzipped.I decided to hike 2.3 miles to the next shelter to have breakfast. I¢ll be able to get water to resupply.I had a hiking partner today¢¦You Go Girl. We left early before the others. When we got to Spring Mountain Shelter, the others soon after caught up with us. Everyone stopped for a break. I had 4 cups of coffee and I was happy. You Go Girl and I left together and afterwards everyone passed us. She keeps a steady pace but I¢m slow going up hills and faster on the downhills.Today was cooler and overcast. It looked like rain. The flower of the day was the white trillium, miles and miles of them spread over the hillsides. And then every few feet there would be a single violet along the whole way.I pointed out bear scat (I usually like to say poo or poop.) to You Go Girl. Bears like to do it in the middle of the trail. It wasn¢t fresh because there were no flies.Our destination today was Hemlock Hollow Farm Shoppe and Cabins. $18.00 for a bunk in the bunkroom and a towel for a hot shower. I know I just left a town, but it was nice to wash yesterday¢s salt off. I was able to buy more supplies to get me to Erwin. And a frozen cheeseburger and small pizza for dinner.I think the new way of lacing my boots helped but my feet still hurt¢¦the whole area around the balls of my feet. You Go Girl said that¢s where hers hurt too and buying insoles didn¢t help.
Date: 2008-05-04
From: Hemlock Hollow Farm

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: broken clouds

Beautiful Spring day for hiking. Fred of Hemlock Hollow Farm dropped You Go Girl and me at the trailhead around 10:00 am. It was a nice up today for 4.5 miles. We stopped at Little Laurel Shelter after 3 miles for a break and for some water. We were joined by Bad Dinner and Geoff. (That¢s his trail name. His real name is Joe.) Then we were joined by Wavepool.Bad Dinner and Geoff told us how they were at Walnut Mountain Shelter with two other guys, hung their food bags exactly how they were suppose to, and the bear managed to steal all four food bags. This bear is way too smart.The flower of the day is¢¦¢trout-lily fields forever¢¦¢ The trees are still mostly bare naked but the forest floor of tan leaves is changing to green. All manner of hopeful green plants are pushing up through the leaves. The mayapple umbrellas are hiding green pea-size apples. And there are 6 inch tall tuffs of grass lining the trail.I had previously determined that when I came to the rocky ridge walk I was going to blue blaze it on the Bad Weather Trail or Bypass Trail (the original AT). I had gone over it in 2004 and didn¢t care to do it again. I feel that it is contrived. It doesn¢t have a name but it should. You Go Girl was happy to go along with me.I was starting to see shelter mirages long before we got to the shelter. For some reason unknown to all, there were signs for the Andrew Johnson Mountain coming and going. There was no way to go up it but you knew you were passing Andrew Johnson Mountain on the left. Fortunately, Jerry cabin Shelter was soon after that.At the shelter we saw Wavepool, Bad Dinner, and Geoff. We met Bald Eagle. There was room for us. Later a bunch of people came and tented. I saw Papa Sarge, Freckles, and Sprite again.Oh yeah, I showed You Go Girl how to re-lace her boots this morning. She is so happy. She says it made all the difference in the world. I also duct taped my Platypus this morning where I discovered it leaking last night.
Date: 2008-05-05
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Flint Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 5.9
Weather: clear sky

It¢s 50* in the shelter. The morning topic today is the rocky ridge walk that You Go Girl and I chose to bypass. Everyone agreed it was not to be missed and how beautiful the views were. Elgixin, who came in after 10 pm., said he saw a great sunset. The other morning topic was how soon everyone is getting to Erwin (42 miles away) or Damascus (160 miles away) for Trail Days.I did not feel ambitious today and was in no hurry to leave. I felt bad that You Go Girl hung around waiting for me. Everybody else was hiking 14 miles today to the second shelter.Elgixin is my hero. He picked up every bit of trash at the shelter. It filled a plastic grocery bag. Then he goes and rakes up leaves for the leaf bag for the moldering privy. What a man!We chatted with Powder River from Wyoming and learned the origin of his name. ¢Powder River!¢ ¢Let ¢er buck!¢Oh great, my Platypus bag is leaking water from under the duct tape. It is stored in a pouch in the top portion of my pack. I placed my pack towel under it to absorb the leaking water. I¢ll put on more duct tape later and wait until I can buy a new one.Spring Loaded arrived at the shelter just before we left at 11:00 am. Elgixin was concerned about him making it over the rocky ridge at night.We mounted Big Butt in less than two miles. You Go Girl was wondering if Southerners didn¢t know how to spell ¢butte¢. Big Butt was the 300 mile mark on the AT.The historical highlight today was the Shelton graves. Two brothers in the Union Army were coming home on a visit. Along with a nephew, they were shot by Rebels. The U.S. Army supplied facing gravestones for the Shelton brothers and the descendents of the nephew supplied his. There are plastic flowers and American flags decorating the graves. The small site is in a clearing next to the trail.After the graves we had an 1100 foot decent for a little over a mile. I remember it being a knee-killer. This time it wasn¢t because I have Leki poles. Yea!The flower of the day was the blossoms on tall trees. Not knowing our flora that well, we were wondering if they were some kind of apple trees.We arrived at the shelter early and chatted with hikers who stopped in and then moved on. You Go Girl set up her tent because she sleeps better in it and I¢m in the shelter with Mike. I¢m on a platform on one side and he is on a platform on the other side.Rainbow and her dogs are tenting with others near the water source. After dark her dog, Journey, was non-stop barking for a very long time. I told Mike to go tell them to shut him up. I couldn¢t hear what he mumbled back.
Date: 2008-05-06
From: Flint Mountain Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: clear sky

You-Go-Girl was out like a light in her tent and didn't hear the barking dog last night. Rainbow came by and said he was barking at a raccoon.The mystery flower of the day is 1 inch wide, white with a yellow center. It has five petals but one petal isn't rounded as the others.There weren't any more bare-naked tress. They were all wearing their spring green clothes. The forest floor was knee deep in green plants, mostly Mayapples. But I discovered that a mountain has two sides. When we rounded a mountain today. It wasn't the same on the other side. The trees were just budding and the forest floor was half green and half tan leaves.We did our almost 9 miles in 7 hours. We are quite pleased with ourselves. That last mile was forever, of course. We were the first to stay at the shelter. Others came, got water, ate, ant left to do many more miles. When the hikers began to stay, You-Go-Girl decided to put up her tent. I found a paperback titled, "Ruins", which I almost read through till late.
Date: 2008-05-07
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Bald Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: few clouds

You Go Girl and I are the only ladies here this morning. There is about a dozen male hikers. Five slept in the shelter with me and the rest tented and two young men "cowboy camped" with their dog. Those two were the last to leave this morning...Tie-Dye and T-Bone, and their dog, Hurley. They came in after dark around 9:00 pm. Hogback Ridge Shelter has a great privy location. It faces east and sits near the edge of the mountain. It has great views. However, it has been the most full privy yet. You know a privy is full when the leaves (tossed in after each use) tickle your hiney.It looked sketchy in the morning but turned into a beautiful day. A nice breeze kept the bugs off. We were mostly hiking in the 4000-foot elevations.The predominate flower of the day was one I've seen before after the Smokies. It is a short white cluster. Each half-inch blossom has fringed petals. The yellow flower of the day is also a cluster on a tall stalk. Each half-inch flower looks like a miniature sunflower. I also saw a new knee high green plant. It has alternating pointed leaves along the stalk and bends. You Go Girl and I hoped in our hearts that there would be a ride at Sam's Gap to take us into Erwin. We are both ready for a town stop. There wasn't and we didn't wait around to see if one would show up. There was trail magic left on the trail. By the time we arrived, there was nothing left in the plastic box. No coffee left in the thermos either. Everyone ahead of us raved about the cupcakes in the notebook that was provided. It was wonderful to share the views from Big Bald with someone hiking with me. Big Bald is a 5516-foot mountain with no trees on top, just grass. There were intermittent posts painted with a white blaze to show the way to go. Just when we got to the shelter, a man walked in with a daypack. He didn't look like a hiker. Then he started quietly offering everyone a cold beer. Bill lives nearby and had already hiked the AT. The cold beer really hit the spot. That's what I call trail magic.At Bald Mountain Shelter we saw Elgixin again. He had gotten off the trail at Sam's Gap, spent the night in Erwin, and got back on the trail again today. We met up again with Tie-Dye, T-Bone, and Hurley. We met Chaco and Toe Socks who are hiking in their¢¦Chacos and toe socks. Pi and Preacher are hiking southbound. Spirit was at the Hogback Ridge Shelter this morning. He remembers me from 2004 staying at Kincora. (I don't remember him).Oh yeah, I'm so disgusted with my Platypus and duct tape. This morning I had put more duct tape on it because it still leaks. The more duct tape I use, the more the Platypus leaks. Well, about half the water leaked out on my pack as soon as I started hiking. So I only had my Nalgene in my side pocket for drinking water. All day I had You Go Girl pull it out for me to drink from whenever I caught up with her. Otherwise I would have to take off my pack and set it down, to take a drink of water.
Date: 2008-05-08
From: Bald Mountain Shelter

To: No Business Knob Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: few clouds

This morning looked sketchier than yesterday. It was cold and windy and began to sprinkle. As we hiked we were soon walking on the other side of the mountain that blocked the wind. When we left Bald Mountain Shelter I noticed tht the trees were bare naked there. The shelter sits at a 5100 feet elevation. You Go Girl loaned me her Mountain Dew bottle on a carbineer so I could have an extra bottle of water. She usually uses it for drinking powdered drinks in. It was very handy. I clipped it to my chest strap and could unscrew it and drink water from it.When we reached Whistling Gap, we discovered a green plastic chair sitting there and a metal box with a register inside. Many entries wondered how the chair got there. The major concensus is that it was divinely placed. You Go Girl and I took turns sitting in it.As we were drawing close to Spring Gap, again we were hoping that a ride would appear and whisk us off to Erwin. We were so needy of a town stop. The day had warmed up and the sun had come out. We had actually waited 30 minutes and only one car went by. You Go Girl tried several Erwin phone numbers in my guide book, but she couldn't get through. I was like, oh well, but You Go Girl was visibly disappointed. She tried the phone numbers a few more times up the trail.I had my second fall today. I came to a seep and slipped on a muddy rock and landed on my bottom. No harm done.About a mile before we reached the shelter we came to burnt woods. It looked like a controlled burn that became uncontrolled. It was sad to see. I wondered about the animals whose habitat it was. Some places were still smoldering. It was burned in places the rest of the way to the shelter.The spring 0.2 mile before the shelter wasn't much. It had begun to sprinkle again before we reached No Business Knob Shelter. A couple, who were tenting, were section hiking (and too clean looking for words) and were cooking inside the shelter. They asked us how to prepare the Mountain House freeze-dried ice cream. (You don't. You just eat it as it is, like the astronauts do.) You Go Girl and I went back and forth about who should go get water. Both of us shouldn't have to. It was wet and drizzly and we were tired after hiking 10 miles. The spring was 0.2 miles back. She won but now I owe her.I was reading the shelter register and found a shout out to "Medium-Paced Barbara" from Kyanite and Sunkist dated April 19th. I was so happy to see that. I miss those guys and their beagles. I've been wondering where they were.We were joined by Rolf and his college aged son who are section hiking. They had tented the night before at Bald Mountain Shelter.After You Go Girl came back with the water, it started raining in earnest. This shelter has a tin roof. I like the sound of rain on a tin roof.
Date: 2008-05-09
From: No Business Knob Shelter

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: light rain

Today we were women with a purpose...town! I was going to forgo coffee to hurry up the getting ready process. But Rolf offered to make us coffee. He had boiling water and coffee bags. How could we refuse?We left by 8:00am in our rainsuits. Again I only remembered the downs into a town, not any of the ups. At first it was too rainy for views. I took a picture of an orange salamander and some of the continued burnt woods. At a certain elevation we began seeing blooming white blossoms on bushes. We came to an open place with a high view of the Nolichucky River. After that and several switchbacks, we were down to the bridge crossing the river.There was a sheriff's car parked near the bridge so we walked toward town until we were out of sight to catch a ride. (We found out later that a couple who were day hiking were missing. They were found later.)You Go Girl then got the bright idea to call the Super 8 Motel to see if someone would come get us. Sure, he'll be right there. Yea!   It was C.P., the manager back in 2004 when I visited before and he treats hikers royally. I asked him to stop by the post office on the way to the motel and he did.Number one business was to clean ourselves. Nothing like going for days without bathing to really appreciate a hot shower. Ahhh.... Then we dressed ourselves in only our rainsuits, put our dirty clothes in bags, and headed toward the laundry. We stopped at the Huddle House for bacon cheeseburgers and onion rings along the way. We also stopped at Walgreens and a gift shop. At Walgreens I found Dr. Scholl's For Her Ball of Foot Cushions. That's where my feet hurt, so I'll give it a try. With that chore (washing clothes) done we hiked back to the motel and stopped for beer and chips along the way.We desided to do the other chores in the morning and rediscovered TV until very, very late.
Date: 2008-05-10
From: Erwin, TN

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

As soon as my eyes were opened after 6:00am, my first thought was, there's coffee in the lobby. We got dressed and headed in that dirction. There wasn't much in the breakfast choices. Shellback, who I met coming out of Hot Springs, was there. He had bloody toe blister problems.I was not myself today. I had too little sleep and irregular meals. I was depending on You Go girl to do any thinking. I couldn't trust myself. We were in a hurry to get to the grocery store, drug store, and the Post Office to get back to the motel before we had to check out at 11:00am. While we were in the drug store, my stomach was so upset that I opened a box of Pepto Bismol tablets in the store and started chewing, before something awful happened and I embarrassed myself in public. On the way back to the motel I felt emotional and weepy. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I'm not like this usually. I wanted to be home in my own bed until I felt better.Our plan was to stay at Uncle Johnny's tonight. You Go Girl had the presence of mind to call to see if they had room. We got the last bunk. C.P. took us back to the trail. We had him drop us off at Uncle Johnny's saying we needed to buy stuff there. At Uncle Johnny's we found the last thing I needed on my town list...a one liter Platypus! We were both yelling with excitement. The others around us said that it doesn't take much to make us happy.We took the lunch shuttle to an AYCE (all you can eat) pizza place. The salad and pizza buffet only cost $4.99. Afterwards I took a nap and my outlook on the world greatly improved. I feel more like myself.We are settled in cabin C. It looks cute on the outside. Inside there is only room for a bunkbed and a VCR. The bunkbed has a double size mattress on the bottom. We fought for top bunk and I let You Go Girl win. Uncle Johnny's has hundreds of VCR tapes here. As I napped You Go Girl got a shuttle into the next county to buy wine. In Erwin, TN you can only buy beer. We spent the evening watching movies and sipping wine. Life is good!
Date: 2008-05-11
From: Erwin, TN

To: Erwin, TN (double zero)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

We decided to stay another day here because it was suppose to rain. I'm feeling guilty for not hiking, especially when the sun comes out occasionally. Hopefully I'll get some postcards written between movies.It's beautiful outside. I just saw Red who works here. She promises more rain, saying that if you can't see the top of Flat Top Mountain in NC, it will rain on snow depending on how cold it is.We took the dinner shuttle. A bunch of us were dropped off at the north end of town that had various dining options. You Go Girl and I headed over to KFC for the buffet in the rain.Remember Claudia, my little yellow foam elephant who started the hike with me? She's been riding piggy-back the whole time. I mention her here because I was worried about her coming to Erwin. Almost 100 years ago the town of Erwin hung an elephant. Mary, a circus elephant, had trampled and killed some people. It was decreed she be put to death. After some thought, they decided to hang her at the rail road yard. She's also buried there, but no one remembers where. Since this unfortunate incident, no elephants have come to Erwin. I kept close tabs on my elephant the whole time in town.
Date: 2008-05-12
From: Erwin, TN 

To: Beauty Spot Gap
Miles today: 10.8

It stormed during the night. Outside is gray, wet, and windy. The morning weather report on TV had a high wind advisory until 9pm. It really didn't matter what the weather was like...I wasn't going to spend another zero in town. You Go Girl and I packed, paid our bills, and waited for the 9:30 morning breakfast shuttle. Uncle Johnny has a scale on the porch. In the good news, bad news department: my pack weighs less and I weigh a lot more than I did in Hot Springs. Uncle Johnny assured me that it was muscle, not fat. That helped.I don't think I mentioned that Rainbow, her dogs, her male hiking partner, Snowflake, and Muffin Man were also staying at Uncle Johnny's. I spoke with Rainbow earlier and learned that they are going to stay the week at Uncle Johnny's until Trail Days. She has a friend coming with a van and Snowflake needs to stay off her foot - she had sprained it. We have Rainbow's phone number so we can hook up with her for the ride to Trail Days.While we were waiting for the breakfast shuttle, Rainbow, who had been going through the hiker boxes, presented me with a thing that was metal and cylinder-shaped with at black plastic ring around the top. I was trying to turn her down. I didn't want to add stuff to my pack. Rainbow was encouraging me to take it and explained how it is used to brew real coffee in my Nalgene. It screws to the top of the Nalgine, the basket holds coffee grounds, pour hot water into it, and then I'll have real coffee. According to her I'll never want instant coffee again. You Go Girl, who was standing next to me, was encouraging me to go ahead and take it. As soon as Rainbow left to go back to her cabin, You Go Girl told me to put it back in the hiker box. No, I can't do that. Rainbow might find it. So I added it to my pack. I'll need to buy real coffee and hope I can contain the loose grounds. I now know how come Stumpknocker is always saying he drinks 28 ounces of coffee. I had been wondering how he comes up with that amount. Now I know.You Go Girl and I left at 11:00am. We were at the next shelter before 2:00pm. We decided to hike 6 more miles to a campsite with water.All along on the trail there were green leaves and branches from last night's storm. When we reached Indian Grave Gap there were more controlled burns, all the way to and including Beauty Spot. But somehow out of the ashes, came beauty. Occasionally there would be a lovely single white trillium surrounded by black ashes. From the top of Beauty Spot I could see Erwin. Sun rays from the clouds that I call God-light made the town of Erwin all shiny.My feet were whimpering by the time I reached our destination. I could tell that this place isn't used much by hikers - only one fire ring. You Go Girl and I were the only ones tented here.
Date: 2008-05-13
From: Beauty Spot Gap

To: Iron Mountain Gap
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: clear sky

You Go Gil was ready to go while I was still drinking coffee. She was ready to pack up my tent with me in it. It was a beautiful day and we were motivated to do 13 miles to a hoste. The high point of the day (again literally) was Unaka Mountain. It is one of my favorite spots on the trail. Before reaching the mountain I noticed bare naked trees again. We were above 4,000 feet elevation. The summit was covered with red spruce trees. The forest floor and trail were equally covered with spruce needles. We had to carefully follow the white blazes, making sure we could see the next one before moving forward. It was truly a Grimm Brothers forest. I felt I needed bread crumbs to leave a trail.We stopped at Cherry Gap Shelter for a break. Afterwards we saw little orange flags, off the trail, marking a new trail relocation. I bet that it will be this year's Hard Core Project.When we reached Iron Mountain Gap, You Go Girl didn't want to hike any more. So she whipped out her cell phone and called the Greasy Creek Frindly. They'll be there in a few minutes. If it was just me, I would have sucked it up and continued to hike four more miles, but I don't carry a cell phone. However, I didn't complain about stopping. We're done for today? OK!I look forward to revisiting the Greasy Creek Friendly. I was well treated there 4 years ago. We read the hostel rules and I notice stickers for sale. $1.50 for a smiley face sticker and $2.50 for a butterfly sticker. Huh? CeeCee was all out of butterfly stickers but a dragonfly sticker would get you a glass of boxed wine. I had 2 dragonflies and You Go Girl had four! We also had excellent cheeseburgers, although the turkey sandwich was highly recommended by the other hikers.CeeCee still has her wacko neighbor which I consider part of the Greasy Creek Friendly experience. He tries to be as annoying as possible to run off CeeCee and those hikers. Everyday he mows his grass while it is still wet in the morning. And then he leaves the mower running. CeeCee calls it the "alarm-mower" since it is as regular as clockwork. He'll also rev his motorcycle too. Every day. All day.