morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-05-15
From: Peck's Corner Shelter

To: Cosby's Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: light rain

Day 20: We awoke to a foggy morning. The other people in the shelter were still sound asleep at our normal "get-up" time of 6:30am. This is the first time this has happened!! But this is also the first time all the other people in the shelter were only 20-something years old!!. So we quitely dressed and moved all the rest of our gear outside the shelter to minimize the noise. We finally hit the trail at 8am.The trail climbed back to the razor-ridge. After about an hour the fog broke and we were able to get our first pictures of the Smokies in several days. Then as quickly as the fog lifted, it came back and the views were gone. One interesting thing we found about this razor-ridge that we are on is that it is the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee. So as we serpentine our way along it, when we weave to the left we are in Tennessee and when we weave to the right we are in North Carolina!!Even though the weather report was for only 20 percent chance of rain (according to a guy we met on the trail) at 1:30pm it started to rain..darn just when most of our gear was finally dry!! So back on with the raingear and, soon, we were walking on a flooded trail again.In general we have been surprised about how poorly the trails have been designed to handle this rain. Even when it isn't raining, the flat areas of the trail end up mud bogs. So we find ourselves dancing down the trail trying to avoid stepping in these bogs. If we miss step, your boot sinks up to 3 inches into the muck.We finally arrived at our destination shelter at 5:15pm. Ironically, 4 of the 5 people who had been at last night's shelter are here. Needless to say they had all zoomed past us at some point or another during the day.Well, we leave the Smokies tomorrow. I must say we have been disappointed by not being able to see much of it because of the weather. We plan to return someday when the sun is shining!
Date: 2012-05-16
From: Cosby's Knob Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm Hostel
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: broken clouds

We awoke to a foggy, overcast morning. As with the previous morning, all the young hikers who shared the shelter with us were still asleep. So we quitely packed the same way we did the previous morning and hit the trail by 7:20am. The day started with a brief descent then a 700 foot climb then a 3000 foot descent into the Pigeon River Valley. As we reached the valley floor we exited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.As we began the big descent, the sun peeked out and by the time we reached the valley floor it was clear and mostly sunny...I think Mother Nature is mocking us!!An interesting phenomenon as we made the big descent was the changing ecozones. We started in the pines and ended in the deciduos forest. More visible was the Rhododendron. It went from new buds, to flowering, to new leaves. The temperature also went from 55 degrees to 75 degrees!!The Rhododendron is interesting to see in the wild. I'm used to seeing it as a decorative plant in California. But here it grows wild and some hillsides are covered with it. When the AT crossed these hillsides, the Rhododendron give a whole new meaning to "Green tunnel". We have been told that when they bloom, the hillsides are bathed in a deep pink color. We saw our first blossom yesterday as we began to descend from the higher elevations of the Smokies and saw a lot more today. We started seeing Rhododendrons our first day in Georgia. The Roan Mountain area of Tennessee has a Rhododendron festival around the first of June when the Rhododendrons are supposed to be in full bloom. Since we finish our hike in that area near the last of May, we are hoping to finish our hike with quite a floral display.Once on the valley floor, we crossed the Pigeon River on a bridge. We stopped to watch all the river rafters attacking the rapids on the river. After brief climb we arrived at the Standing Bear Farm Hostel 3:30pm. We opted for the slightly more expensive "cabin" vs the "bunkhouse". Although the cabin sleeps 6, we are the only ones in it. We sat around talking to the owner over beer and wine. Then ET and I took those badly needed showers..Boy did that feel good. We are not near a town, so dinner was what we could find in the Hostel's small "General Store"..chips and salsa, pizza and sodas...Mmmm!! Tomorrow is our second "zero" day...Laundry, repairing some gear and kicking back are on the list of things to do...Oh yeah and eating!!
Date: 2012-05-18
From: Standing Bear Farm Hostel

To: Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: few clouds

Day 23: We awoke at 6:30am, packed, ate breakfast and were finally able to pull ourselves away from the "vortex" of the hostel at 8am. We immediately started a 2500 foot climb to get out of the Pigeon River valley. Fortunately it was mostly overcast so it stayed reasonably cool.One of the unique things of today was we crossed two large "balds". These are mountain tops that, instead of being covered with trees, which is the norm, they are treeless and covered with grass. I'm not sure what freak of nature causes this to happen but it makes for some great views!! On the first bald about a 1/3 into our day's hike, we had our best view back at the Smoky Mountains. On the second bald, Max Patch, near the end of the day, the Smokies were obscured by thundershowers...so what's new!! I took a picture to the north, the direction we are heading, from Max Patch. We have seen a few other balds in our hike, but the two today were by far the biggest and most impressive.We finally arrived at our destination shelter at 5:30pm. There is only one other hiker here. The number of hikers on the trail is expected to be less for the next few days because there is a big hiker event in Damascus, VA this weekend called "Trail Days". From talking to people on the trail, they tell us that more than 30,000 people show up for this. It includes hiking product vendors, bands and other entertainment and, of course, hikers!! Many of the people we have met on the trail were getting off the trail and arranging for rides or hitchhiking to Damascus. Since the AT passes right through Damascus, we have decided to plan next years hike of the AT to put us in Damascus during Trail Days so we can join the party!!The weather stayed cloudy to partly cloudy all day. There was an afternoon build up of thunderclouds that began to rumble during the last hour of our hike..but we never got rained on. As I lay in the tent typing this I am hearing distant rumbles of thunder, but hopefully it will stay in the distance.
Date: 2012-05-19
From: Roaring Fork Shelter

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

Day 24: We awoke to a partly cloudy sky...we never had thundershowers in the night. We packed up and hit the trail at 7:15am...our earliest time yet!! We had several ups and downs..with the highest climb being 1000 feet. We had completed both major climbs by "first lunch" so decided to push to get to Hot Springs instead of the shelter we had planned to stay at 3 miles short of town. A nicely graded and switchbacked descent helped us keep a pretty good pace. Made it to Hot Springs by 5:45pm having completed our longest distance in one day so far.Animal sighting: We saw a large black snake on the trail. It was not a rattlesnake but it was about 1.5 inches in diameter and 6 feet long...We think it might have been a King snake.Hot Springs, NC is one of several towns where the AT passes right through the middle of town. In fact, in Hot Spings, instead of the white blaze designating the AT, they have imbedded the "AT" symbol in the sidewalk ever 20 feet through town.The town is named for its hot springs that is now a resort..apparently Hot Springs was a retreat for the elite during its hey-day in the late 1800s. If we weren't just "breezing" through, we would certainly take advantage of a soak in the hot springs!!The hiker guide we carry listed several places to stay in Hot Springs, including a hostel. The place that piqued our interest was an inn in an old Victotian house. We went to the location described in the guide and found a Victorian house. But there were no signs anywhere indicating that it was an inn. Spider walked to the front door, but no one seemed home. Finally he walked around the house and found a man sitting on the back porch. It turned out he was the owner, Elmer Hall, and, yes, this was the Sunnybank Inn. He gave us a tour of the house, complete with sitting room and music room, and showed us to our large bedroom at the front of the house on the second floor. The house is full of antiques and definitely a step back in time. Apparently it was built around 1840 and was a summer home for a wealthy family during the hey-day and later a boarding house.ET and I took showers (and did a little laundry in the process!!) then we were ready for food. The Inn serves breakfast and dinner but it is all vegetarian...and we were craving beef!! So we walked downtown (all 5 blocks of it!!) and found the Iron Horse Station cafe (oddly enough next to the railroad tracks!!). After steak, ribs, salad, beer and wine we returned to the Inn and our BED!! Definitely worth the extra push to get to town. Now let's see what our bodies say about it tomorrow!!
Date: 2012-05-20
From: Sunnybank Inn, Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 25: We awoke at our normal time of 6:30am but had signed up for breakfast at the Inn which would not be served until 8:30am. So we had time to pack up and read in the sitting room. The breakfast was buckwheat and pecan pancakes with syrup and/or warm strawberry compote, fresh cantelope and granola with milk. So healthy, but Spider missed his meat!!Spider had "tweaked" his "good" knee a couple of days ago, so he ran across the street to Dollar General and bought a second knee brace. It's not as good as the one he wears on the "bad" knee but is better than nothing!!We finally hit the trail at about 10am. We walked 4 blocks to the outfitter to pick up our box of food for the next 5 days. They were closed by the time we got in yesterday so we knew we would have to wait until this morning to get our box. We repacked to accommodate the food and headed out of town by 10:30amAt the edge of town we crossed over the French Broad River. It was the largest river we have crossed so far. The owner of the Inn had told us the history of the area. When the British and French owned the land of eastern America, the agreement of demarcation was the ridgeline where if the water flowed to the Atlantic it was British land and if it flowed to the Gulf of Mexico it was French land. The river we crossed outside of Hot Springs was a broad river that flowed to the Gulf so they called it the French Broad River. Another river just on the other side if the ridge that flowed to the Atlantic was called the English Broad River. Over the years, the English Broad was renamed (He didn't remember to what!!) But the French Broad River retains its original name.As usual, after crossing the river, we started a big climb that ultimately was 2300 feet of elevation change. Near the highpoint, there was a side trail to a firewatch tower. This is about the fourth or fifth of these we have walked near but have only stopped to look at one because it was right on the trail. Most are abandoned because they have been replaced with technology. Most fire spotting is now done by satellite. In this case we took the side trail to the tower because Spider was having trouble getting a cell signal to send his daily Journal..there had been no signal in Hot Springs!! So what better place to try for a signal than a tower on top of the tallest mountain around...and it worked!!After one more up and down we arrived at our destination shelter at 5:30pm. Ironically 5 of the other people staying here were at the Inn with us last night..we had breakfast with 2 of them!!Today was clear and warm, up to 70 degrees and no threat of thunderstorms...maybe we will have nice weather for the rest of our trip!!We even saw a pretty sunset!!
Date: 2012-05-21
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

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

Day 26: We awoke, packed up and hit the trail at 7:15am. Todays hike was a big "V" where we descended 1400 feet to Allen Gap and then ascended 2500 feet to Camp Creek Bald.In both our descent and our ascent we passed through a zone where the Mountain Laurel was blooming. It can be a bush or a tree and the pink and white flowers have a very sweet smell. Certainly adds a touch of spring to the trail.After reaching Camp Creek Bald we only had 5 miles to our destination shelter and it looked fairly level on the map, so we thought we would arrive with plenty of time to relax...wrong. What we ended up with was 2 miles of ridge walking with of some of the toughest rock scrambling we have experienced yet. In one spot we had to lower ourselves down 10 feet on a vertical face just using finger and toe holds. Needless to say, this stretch really slowed us down. Howeverthe reward was great 360 degree views at several points that allowed us to see 100 miles in every direction.Major milestone: We passed 300 miles on the AT today.We finally arrived at our destination shelter at 6:15pm...pooped. We had really hoofed it after getting off the ridge because a black cloud was forming overhead and we were hearing thunder!! We quickly set up the tent and fixed dinner, but nothing ever happened with the cloud..it just went away. As you might imagine, this is a "Vitamin I" night!!
Date: 2012-05-22
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: moderate rain

Day 27: We awoke to a cloudy morning. We packed up and hit the trail by 7:30am. Our day started out with a 500 foot climb to Big Butt!! Who thinks up these names?? It just looked like a hill to me..maybe from the valley below it looks like a big butt!!As we crossed a bald on our ascent to Big Butt, "weatherman" Spider was checking out the sky. "Looks like a front moving in" was his assessment "hope we don't get rain"!!After our ascent, we had a 1700 foot descent and then a 1600 foot ascent. As we descended we came to a park-like area with 4 headstones dating back to 1863. A couple of other hikers explained that this family had left the area because they were Union sympathizers during the Civil War. When the war was over, they were returning to the area when they were stopped and killed by their former neighbors, who were Confederate sympathizers. The Civil War didn't really end at AppomattoxAt 1pm, just as we started our ascent, we heard a rumble of thunder then it began to spinkle. So out came the raingear. By 2pm we were in a downpour. We found a flat spot and set up the green tarp we carry as a canopy to keep the rain off us as we ate "second" lunch. Fortunately, by the time lunch was over, the rainshower had mostly abated. We continued our climb and arrived at our destination shelter at 5:45pm.A few words about our gear. It is tempting to bring a lot of just-in-case gear on a hike this long..but each thing adds weight to your pack. So we try to bring things that have dual uses if possible. The raingear doubles as windbreaker/warm layer. The afore mentioned green tarp fucntions as something to sit on when the ground is wet. Our "home" is a tent, sleeping pads and sleeping bags. Our kitchen is a stove with a pot to boil water, a cup and spoon each, food in food bags and several water containers. We have several layers of clothes starting with longjohns and ending with our raingear. We both have reading material to "relax" with before bedtime and headlamps to see by at night. ET carries an iPhone which doubles as her camera, while Spider carries a phone and a separate camera. That's about it...everything fits in our packs and allows us to survive in the wilderness.One of the other hikers had a text from his wife saying a tropical depression is settling into this area and there is a 60 percent change for rain tonight and tomorrow. As I lay here typing this, it is pouring rain outside. Sure hope it rains itself out by morning!!
Date: 2012-05-23
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Big Bald Shelter
Miles today: 10.1

Day 28: Well the rain didn't hold off. It started to sprinkle about 7:30pm and then it began to rain..and boy did it rain. Big drops and lots of it all night...we felt like we were inside a drum in our tent!! At 6:30am it was still pouring, so we packed up everything while in the tent. Unfortunately it had rained so hard that some of the build up of water had run under the tent. Nothing critical got wet, but it's not fun packing up and carrying a heavy, wet tent.We hit the trail a 7:45am in full raingear. However by the time we completed our 300 foot climb the rain had stopped. We stopped for breakfast and Matt and Eaton passed us. We have been playing hopscotch with them on the trail for the last three days and they have been staying at the same shelters we have. Unfortunately, last nights rain drenched all there stuff including sleeping bags, so they had arranged for a hostel shuttle to pick them up and take them to town to dry out. Hope to see them on the trail again.By-the-way ET "tweaked" her good knee on the rock hopping a couple of days ago so she is using the new knee brace Spider bought in Hot Springs. Guess Spider will have to buy another brace in Erwin, TN tomorrow. It's probably a good thing we only have about 70 miles to go..our bodies are falling apart.After a 700 foot descent to I-26 we started a 1700 foot ascent. At noon we got our first sprinkle and then the sky opened up. Apparently this is typical for tropical depression storms, they come in waves and they dump lots of rain. Well this "wave" lasted until 2:30pm!!..and came with losts of lightning and thunder. By this time we were pretty wet and cold.Animal sighting: Spider saw a Whitettailed deer.We had been debating about making this a shorter day than planned and staying in a shelter rather than stealth camping i.e. Setting up our wet tent. When we arrived at the shelter and saw there was plenty of space available, we caved in. We hung up our wet clothes and crawled into our warm sleeping bags. A couple more waves of rain went through and we were happy to watch it happen from inside the shelter. The down side is that tomorrow will be a longer day then planned but it will end at a warm, dry hostel!!
Date: 2012-05-24
From: Big Bald Shelter

To: Nolichucky Hostel, Erwin, TN
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: broken clouds

Day 29. We awoke to a mostly sunny sky. Wahoo! After the 6pm "wave" of rain yesterday, we had not had any more. We packed up and hit the trail by 7:30am. We climbed 300 feet before we began our 3700 foot descent. There were a few ups and downs along the way, but our downhill muscles got the bulk of the workout. Yesterday's storm must have driven hikers off the trail because we saw only two other hikers all day.Animal sighting: We saw another black snake. One of the locals said it was not a King snake, but a black Racer snake.We arrived at our destination hostel at 6:15pm. Spider had emailed them the day after we left Hot Springs asking to reserve a cabin. However, "Uncle Johnny", the owner, said he didn't have any cabins left. When we inquired about the email, he said he didn't check email very often. So our options were sleeping in the bunkhouse or tenting. We opted to tent in the yard. The free shuttle to town was leaving right away, so we dropped our packs, grabbed our wallets and headed to the van.The driver took us to a strip mall with several restaurants and stores. We went to a Mexican restaurant. The food was so-so, but the beer was good. ET even had a beer, since they didn't have wine.After eating, we went to the Rite Aid to pick up a knee brace for Spider to replace the one that ET stole, then to Dollar General to get some extra food. We are short a day's food because we have decided not to take a planned "zero" day in Erwin and then hike three 16-17 mile days. Instead, we will hike four shorter mileages. That means we are a day short of food.We returned to the hostel at 7:30pm. The office/store was closed, so we will have to get our food box tomorrow morning. We set up our tent, took showers (boy, did that feel good!) and did laundry. As we were setting up our tent, the lightning bugs came out. Spider hadn't seen those since he was a kid in the Midwest.Finally finished everything by 11pm... Long day. Tomorrow we start the last week of our hike.
Date: 2012-05-25
From: Nolichucky Hostel, Erwin, TN

To: Deep Gap
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 30: We awoke a little later than usual due to our late night. But it didn't matter since we had to wait for the store/office to open at 8am anyway. We did most of our packing before 8am then ET went to the office and paid for our nights stay, bought the last of the extra food we needed and picked up the food box. Thanks to ET's mom, Bobbie, for sending the last several food boxes for us...they were all there waiting for us!! We packed the food and the rest of our gear and hit the trail at 9am.Upon leaving the hostel, we immediately crossed a bridge over the Nolichucky River. We are amazed at the size of the last couple of rivers we have crossed...they are huge. Sacramento River size or larger. Once over the river, we paralleled it for a ways then began our climb out of the Nolichucky Valley. We had 2700 feet to climb today, fortunately it was spread out over about 10 miles. When we arrived at Indian Grave Gap we met a group of Boy Scouts just heading out for a 67 mile hike. We hopscotched with them most of the afternoon. It was clear and hot all day...not the best day to be making a big climb!! We finally arrived at our stealth camping spot at 5:45pm. We set up our tent, did our camp chores then rested until dinner time. We watched a pretty sunset through the trees...a fitting way to end the day.
Date: 2012-05-26
From: Deep Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 14.1
Weather: few clouds

Day 31: We awoke to another wonderful clear day. We packed and hit the trail at 7:45am. We immediately started our big climb for the day of 1100 feet. This may seem like a terrible way to start the day but we actually prefer it that way because it is cool and we are at our strongest then.After the climb we had a 1300 foot descent. The rest of the day was ups and downs in the range of 600 feet. Once again today we only saw two other hikers on the trail...and that was at the end of the day. We arrived at our destination shelter at 4:45pm. This is one of the more primitive shelters we have stayed at with no privy and no bear bag hanging station. At least it has a good water source. We set up camp and rested until 6:30pm then had dinner.Speaking of food, what are we eating? Over the years and miles of backpacking we have perfected a diet that works for us. It is reasonably lightweight and provides sufficient calories for the activity level:Breakfast: instant oatmeal and Tang. ET also has coffee while Spider adds a Nutrigrain bar.Lunch: nuts, dried fruit and candy. ET also has a protein bar and Spider adds beef jerky.Dinner: We alternate between a packaged freeze-dried meal and a Cup-of-Soup each. We take the soup out of its styrofoam cup packaging and put it into ziplocks. Spider also has a cup of hot bullion using a bullion cube. We sometimes have green tea if it is a cool evening.So that's what has sustained us for the last month on the trail. I wish I could be this disciplined in my eating habits when I am at home!!