morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-09-18
From: stealth camping near bland 

To: tenting near chesnut knob shelter
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: clear sky

We started hiking around 6:45 and made the 4.3 miles to Bland by 8:15. The first mile was flat then 2.4 downhill before road walking .8 to where the trail heads back up a service road. We thought we did so good that we would hitch to Subway for bf. A nice man went out of his way to get us to Subway but the hitch back took :45 minutes. We finally were back on the trail by 10:30 and had to first climb up the service road before entering the woods. For 6 miles we hiked on the side of the Mtn until we descended to Va. 615. We then had to climb brushy Mtn before reaching Jenkins Shelter where we took a break. We then had a huge climb which wore us out and had our legs shaking before finally reaching Va. 623 Burke's Garden Road. We had dinner there before hiking 4 more miles and making camp on the ridgeline under the rhoderdendon bushes. We have 13 miles in the morning before meeting up with Spirit,Gypsy Sol and Subway who have a spot at a campground where we are going to relax and eat eat eat eat and drink cold drinks. Today was another great day to hike with the Lord blessing us with perfect weather. The only problem is water is hard to come by. God Bless only 29 days to Springer Mtn.
Date: 2015-09-19
From: tenting near chesnut knob shelter

To: Va. 42
Miles today: 13.8

This morning we were hiking by 5:30 bc we were in a hurry to meet up with our friends. We first climbed up to Chesnut Knob where we had a beautiful Sunrise over Burke's Garden. We then hiked 11.6 miles as fast as we could to meet our friends. We hiked thru fields and had two up and downs. This area is where the Biltmore was going to be built before choosing ashville. It was a great day of hiking and we made it at 11:30. Spirit and Gypsy Sole where waiting on us at the little park. We spent the rest of the day by a fire eating fried taters,eggs,bacon and for dinner steak,corn on the cob and veggies. We spent the day just catching up and relaxing. God Bless
Date: 2015-09-20
From: Va. 42

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 23.5
Weather: broken clouds

We woke up to Gypsy cooking steak and eggs for bf, our friends sure do spoil us we thank u so much and are looking forward to getting back together. We were on the trail at 9 and met Good People,a gentleman from Alabama. We hiked and talked for 12.1 miles as fast as we could bc we met Spirit in Groseclose for lunch. We made it around 1:30 and had lunch with Spirit. Good People was spending the night here and Spirit was slackpacking us to Marion. We started hiking again by 2:30 and we were pretty sure they filmed an episode of finding Bigfoot. When we were deep in the woods we tried offering Bigfoot some Ramen so we could get a picture but no luck I guess he ran like we do when Ramen is mentioned. We did see an owl up close sitting on a limb which was cool. Anytime u see Wildlife that u normally don't see its exciting. We had to climb up Locust Mtn and Brushy Mtn before descending off the ridge line to partnership shelter. Spirit had a fire going and dinner ready. There were 7 other hikers there,which made the most hikers we had camped with this whole hike. Spirit leaves in the morning to hike NOBO 300 miles before coming to Springer on Oct 16 to celebrate our third thru hike. God Bless
Date: 2015-09-21
From: Partnership Shelter

To: camping by stream
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

After having bf with Spirit in Marion we were on the trail by 10. It was cold with temps around 60. It was also overcast and foggy. We first hiked 3.9 thru rhoderdendon forest before reaching Va.601. We then hiked 3.8 over rocky terrain until we reached Va. 670. We didn't stop any because it was cold when u stopped to rest. We then .9 to Va. 672 before stopping at High Point to rest. We then made it to Va. 650 where u can go into Troutdale but we continued hiking. We then reached Comers Creek Falls where we stopped for pics. We then hiked 2 more miles before calling it a day at 5:30 bc it was just cold and we were ready to get in our sleeping bags and drink warm apple cider. God Bless.
Date: 2015-09-22
From: camping by stream

To: elk garden
Miles today: 21.4
Weather: overcast clouds

This morning woke to rain hitting the tent so u guessed it we rolled over and stayed in our sleeping bags. About 8 heard a hiker go past bc we camped right next to the trail, so I stuck my head out and it had stopped raining. We packed up and were hiking by 8:30. We first climbed to Hurricane Mtn at 4320ft. We then made our way down to Va. 603 where we took a break. While there a shuttle pulled in and low and behold Spirit hops out, jeeze we can't get rid of her. Actually she is hiking with Philco who submitted Katahadin but missed from the scales to hog pen Gap so she is hiking NOBO with him. They hiked the 5 miles with us up to the scales in Grayson Highlands before turning around and heading north. We said our goodbyes and we headed south. We hiked up into Grayson Highlands on a pretty day with sunshine and overcast at times. We made it to the Wise Shelter for lunch around 3 then headed up where the wild ponies usually hangout. We seen about 50 horses in all and actually found a carrot to feed to one of them. We had to hike over boulders,around boulders and thru boulders but we finally made it out of the area and stopped at Thomas Knob Shelter to refill our water bottles from a piped spring before hiking 4 miles to set up camp. We passed up the side trail to Mt. Rogers the highest pt in Va. bc we have been there before. We had rocks to hike over,fields to walk thru and forest to walk thru before reaching Elk Garden. We noticed the fall foliage in Grayson Highlands was great with more foliage there then anywhere else so far. If u live near by drive up and hike in the view the foliage u won't regret it at all. U can park at massue Gap and hike .6 into the Highlands. We made the road by 7 and set up just past the parking lot in the edge of the woods. It was a perfect day of hiking with Damascus in reach tomorrow. God Bless.
Date: 2015-09-23
From: elk garden

To: damascus
Miles today: 24.0
Weather: broken clouds

We started hiking at 7 this morning and had a climb up White Top Mtn. We reached buzzard rock around 8:30 and had 360 degree views down in the valleys as the sun was rising. We celebrated 2000 miles hiked so far counting the miles we hiked on the BMT. So, if u have been following us we asked people to donate a penny a mile to our awana program at church where we are involved with youth. After celebrating we hiked down to U.S. 58 for a break. We then hiked up to Lost Mtn Shelter where we met a couple from Florida who were section hiking. We then made it down to the creeper trail where we hiked on it for .6. We knew we were getting close to Damascus because we were on the creeper trail. We then had to climb up to Straight Mtn before making our way down into Damascus. Most of the day was Ridgeline hiking and up and downs but nothing to bad. We are staying at the church hostel tonight. We have 469 miles to go in 24 days. God Bless to everyone who has been following our journey and thank u for ur prayers and well wishes.
Date: 2015-09-24
From: damascus

To: iron mtn shelter
Miles today: 26.1
Weather: overcast clouds

We had a good nights sleep at the church hostel in Damascus. We were up at 7 having breakfast before heading to the post office to pick up a box that our cruise friends Ryan,Erin Walsh sent us from NC. Thank u so much for the food box and we will be down to c u at the end of October. We then hiked out of Damascus around 9 and by 10:30 hiked out of Va. and into Tenn. 11 states down 3 to go. It was only 3.7 to the state line. We had a gradual climb up to 3302ft then in up to 3785 at the Abingdon Shelter. The trail was well maintained and led to easy hiking. The weather was perfect again with blue skies and a breeze all day long. We then made our way to Double Spring Gap where we had lunch of Mac and cheese. We realized we hadv13.1 in and wanted to do 13 more to make the shelter. So we started hiking again around 2:45 and picked up the pace. We crossed Tenn 91 where we had a .5 mile field walk just before the road. We then had just 4.6 miles to go and it was 5:50. We filled up with water at a spring so when we got to the shelter we could throw up the tent and go to bed. We stopped at the Nick Grindstaff Monument before turning our headlamps on and hiking the last 1.3 to the shelter,arriving at 8. We set up the tent in the dark trying not to wake two hikers already in the shelter sleeping. We had a great day and our excited that tomorrow we get to meet up with ratmans kids and our grandkids. God Bless
Date: 2015-09-25
From: iron mtn shelter

To: watagua lake
Miles today: 15.9

It started raining last night at 8:30 and the wind was blowing hard all night. We woke at 6:00 and didn't want to get out of our sleeping bags. But, we did and started hiking by 7:30. It was foggy and windy all morning but no rain just the water being blown off the trees which was bad enough. We had cold well frozen hands for the first 3 hrs of hiking. We first hiked to Turkeypen Gap then on to Vandeventer Shelter,which is one of our favorites even though it is very old and tiny. We love the view behind the shelter which overlooks the lake. We sometimes come over here to camp since we are only 1 hr away. We couldn't stay there long bc we were cold so we got moving again. We hiked down to the spring before hiking 3 miles to Wilbur Dam Road. It's funny how fast u hike and the miles fly by when its to cold to stop and rest. Next, we hiked across Watauga Dam and we knew we had 3 miles to the road. We hiked the 3 miles around the lake and made the road by 1:30. They had signs posted that the 4 mile section including the shelter were closed to camping,cooking,picnicking bc of bear activity. Hiking only in this area. We were suppose to meet my son his wife and our two grand babies at 3 so since we were early we hitched into Hampton and waited at mcds. They arrived around 3 and we went to Elizabethton to eat at chic-fila. It was great to spend time with family and play with the Caroline and Maggie. We went to Wal-Mart to re-supply then they brought us to the hostel to dry out before continuing on South tomorrow. Thank u Josh and Holly for coming over and lifting our spirits for the last 3 weeks of hiking. God Bless
Date: 2015-09-26
From: watagua lake

To: walnut mtn road
Miles today: 22.9
Weather: broken clouds

We were on the trail this morning by 8:15. We had to climb up to Pond flats from 1990ft to 3780ft. We then hiked back down to Laurel Fork Creek and then finally to the falls. Laurel falls has been voted best falls on the AT in the past. We met a nice family from Bristol and he was heading home to root the vols on against Florida but I see they blew it again. We then started our climb of 5.8 miles up White rocks Mtn before finally reaching the Moreland Gap Shelter. The weather is not to bad with misty rain but no hard downpours and we haven't gotten wet. The wind is blowing pretty strong when u get on the wrong side of the Mtn. We left the shelter at 3:15 and had pretty much very level to little up and downs with alot of the trail in rhoderdendon bushes. We reached a memorial bench with a view before hiking 1.7 to our campsite. We had the campsite to ourselves with the wind howling all night but no rain. We have 404.2 miles to go. God bless.
Date: 2015-09-27
From: walnut mtn road

To: stan murray shelter
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: light rain

We were hiking by 6:30 after a great night sleeping in a rhoderdendon wonderland. We first passed by the mountaineer shelter where we seen a tent with a hiker still asleep inside. We knew 4 hikers that stayed in the shelter as well. We then hiked around the side of the Mtn before hiking in a field that was beside a Creek before making a right and climbing up Buck Mt. We then reached Buck Mtn Rd and then crossed Bear Branch Rd before reaching U.S. 19. We walked .2 down to Mtn harbour hostel to surprise our friend country gold from 2010 AT hike. He is working there and when we walked in he was very surprised to see us. We forgot to take and pics before going back to the road to get a hitch into town for lunch. We got a very quick ride from a nice man into Roan to eat at Bobs Dairyland. We had the Bq platters which were very good and the best thing is they give u healthy portions. I highly recommend this place for BBQ anytime u come up to roan Mtn. We then got a ride with a nice young man back to the trail. We had a 1705ft climb up to doll flats then onto Hump Mtn at 5587ft which is another 1000ft up from the flats. At the flats we came to the NC border, now the trail kind of follows the Tenn,NC borders. When we reached the top it was very windy and started to rain. We were exposed to the elements for about 2 hrs with wind and rain hitting us from the left side and the tall grass hitting us from the waist down soaking us. We finally made our way down to the Overmountain Shelter which is a barn where hikers can camp inside to get out of the weather. We met a group of 7th to 9th graders hiking with their teachers. We always think it's great to see these young kids hiking. We told them about our hike and warned them about the barn. We have stayed here twice and froze bc the boards have gaps between them and the wind comes up from beneath and freezes u to death. One time our clothes and boots froze solid by morning in the barn. We said bye and hiked 2 more miles up to the next shelter and spent the night alone in our tent. We figured 25 to 30 hikers and students spent the night in the barn. God Bless.
Date: 2015-09-28
From: stan murray shelter

To: cherry gap shelter
Miles today: 22.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Today ended up being a great trail magic day, with 3 unexpected trail magics. We started hiking at 8 bc of the rain and wind but after putting it off, we started hiking. We climbed up to Mary's Bald and then down to Carverd Gap. On the way down we met a sweet couple hiking up who gave us our first trail magic of the day. It was windy and very foggy on Roan Mtn this morning so we were surprised to see anyone but us hiking this morning. After saying bye we climbed up to the top of Roan Mtn where the highest shelter on the AT was built. We met another group of school kids leaving the shelter and heading to the shelter we stayed at last night. All these are from the same school, they leave buses at differant gaps and cross paths and exchange keys. Each group is about 10 to 15 in size. We then started down the back side of roan Mtn going down swithbacks thanks to Bob Peoples who does a great job with maintaining AT trail in this area. We stopped at Ash Gap for lunch with the sun finally peaking out from the clouds and fog. We then hiked on to the Clyde Smith Shelter for a break and met a guy who is hiking SOBO but did the trail NOBO last year. He actually came thru when we were doing a hiker feed at burning town Gap bc he remember us wearing hats that said Jesus is our Boss. That's y we love the AT, u just run into people out in the middle of nowhere that u met on the trail yrs before and u just start talking like it was yesterday. We then hiked to the blue blaze trail that leads to Greasy Creek where some of the hikers we have met were going in to stay at a hostel. We continued on and when we arrived at Tenn 107 we had our second trail magic, the famous Rob Byrd who owned the birdcage in Dalton,Mass before moving to Erwin in 2012. He has always taken hikers in and never asked for anything in return. He was sitting by the road with cold drinks and snacks. We sat and talked until 6 and decided we had to get going the shelter was still 3 miles away. We hiked the 3 miles in a hr bc the trail was easy with very little climbing. When we arrived another group of students were there and thats trail magic number 3. They had leftover food and told us to dig in so we didn't argue at all, we finished the rest and licked the pot clean. We set our tent up in the dark but had full bellies and had met old friends and made some new ones as well. Another great day on the AT. The kids told us they were a boarding school from burnsville,NC. We told the teachers we would love to come and talk to them about hiking the AT when we finish our hike. God Bless.
Date: 2015-09-29
From: cherry gap shelter

To: erwin
Miles today: 17.0

After a goodnight camping with the group of school kids we were hiking by 7:15. It was very foggy with a slight drizzle. We had 17 miles to hike until we reached town. We first climbed Unaka Mtn at 5180ft, when we reached the top it began raining harder. We then made our way over to beauty spot which was not that beautiful with the rain and fog. We passed 4 guys hiking North who seemed to enjoy the rain. We then hiked down to Tenn 395 before hiking the ridgeline down to the Curley Maple Shelter. On the way down we ran into 3 guys from Georgia, and one said I think I know u guys. We were puzzled until he said he has been following our hikes on trailjournals for last few years. He asked us for a picture which we were glad to do. Hey, if u read this and your the gentlemen we met shoot us ur email and if u and ur friends our ever section hiking between where we met u and up to Damascus we can help if u ever need it. Also if u ever have any questions about the trail or a trail town don't be afraid to ask, we will help u any way we can. We hope ur hike goes well even though they are given rain until Sunday. We then made our way down into Erwin, 17 miles by 1:30 we were very happy. It came a hard downpour and the trail was becoming a river so we decided to walk 1.3 to a motel and dry out before heading to Hot Springs tomorrow. We have 343 miles to go and 18 more days to reach our goal. God Bless
Date: 2015-09-30
From: erwin

To: stealth camp just before sams
Miles today: 23.9

We had a great breakfast at the motel before walking the 1.3 miles Back to the trail. We started hiking at 8:30 and knew we had 15 miles of climbing up to Big Bald at over 5500ft. We first from 1700 to 3180ft up to No Business Knob Shelter. It's was 6.3 miles up with the winding trail giving us a view of the Nolichucky River down below. It was foggy but humid with no rain thank goodness. After taking a break at the shelter we continued on thinking it might start raining at any time. We hiked 4.9 more miles of climbing around the Mtn side with many blow downs and also logs that had rolled down the Mtn. We had lunch at Spivey Gap before starting our huge climb up to Big Bald. We first reached the side trail to High Rocks at 4100ft before hiking on up to Little Bald at 5220ft. We then made our way up to Big Stamp and Big Bald. When we made it to the Bald we met a lady and man that were catching migrating birds in nets that they set up to record and track them. We actually had a little blue skies and sunshine for about 10 minutes before the fog came back. We decided we better get moving just in case it starts raining. We hiked another 5.8 down to near Sams Gap where we set up camp bc it was beginning to rain. All in all it was a great day to hike and get the miles in. We will try to hike two more days into hot springs and hopefully beat the storm coming.God Bless.
Date: 2015-10-01
From: stealth camp just before sams

To: little laurel shelter
Miles today: 25.1
Weather: light rain

We slept good all night with the pitter patter of rain on our tent. When we started hiking at 7 it had stopped raining. We first reached sams Gap and crossed under I26 from here we could drive home in an 1hr and 30 minutes. But, we continued hiking we first climbed up to High Rocks and then made our way to Hogback Ridge Shelter. We then hiked on a easy trail with great terrain to Rice Gap then onto Big Flat before reaching the top of frozen Knob. We then made our way to N.C. 212 at Devils Fork Gap. We noticed a sign for a store which was called Laurel Creek Trading Post and country store so we called the number and he said he gives free shuttles. So, we rode down the Mtn to have a burger and grab some snacks for the trail. I highly recommend this place bc the guy is hiker friendly and not many people give u free shuttles. The food was good and its a great place bc its between Erwin and Hot Springs. He gave us a ride back to the trail by 12:30 and we were on our way up the trail. We had a good climb out of there up to 4490ft from 3100ft. We made our way to Jerry's Cabin where we ran into the couple we met at the motel in Erwin. There also was two girls hiking NOBO to Damascus. While we were at the store we seen the weather forecast at it wasn't good. We seen that the hurricane was up to a cat 3 and this area was going to get 8 to 12 inches of rain from Friday to Monday morning. We warned them about trying to get off the trail tomorrow to miss the worst weather. We then hurried on bc we knew we had to hike over White Rock Cliffs which is an exposed above treeline rocky section. We made it over this obstacle before hiking fast to the shelter. We arrived at 7 and just made it in the tent before it starting raining again. We have 19.6 to do in the AM to Hot Springs. Pray we make it before the weather gets bad. God Bless.
Date: 2015-10-02
From: little laurel shelter

To: hot springs 
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: light rain

We thought about getting up at 2 am and hiking into town 20 miles bc it had stopped raining and they were calling for the rain to start at 8am. But, we rolled back over and went to bed and got up at 4 and started hiking by 5. It was raining but not pouring when we started. We first hiked 3.8 to Log Cabin Drive and then to N.C. 208 in the dark and were pleased to do 5 miles by 7. We then had a big climb up to Spring Mtn Shelter where we stopped for a snack. We didn't stay long bc it was cold and drizzling the rain. We then hiked up to the Rich Mtn Fire Tower, on the way up we met two guys section hiking North. We warned them of the forecast for the weekend and the one man said he knew us from reading our journals. After reaching the summit the rain stopped and we hurried towards Hot Springs. We next Hiked across U.S. 25 & 70 overpass and knew we needed to hike 6 more miles. The rest of the hike was mostly flat and downhill but still after hiking in rain and doing 25 miles and 25.6 miles then basically hiking non stop today to make it to town before the bad rain started. We made it at 12:45 with very little rain, the Lord blessed us with keeping the rain away until we made it to town. Thanks for all ur prayers and we only have 274 miles to go. God Bless.
Date: 2015-10-03
From: hot springs 

To: hot springs 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: heavy intensity rain

We are taking the day off to wait out the rain. We are still scheduled to finish on Oct 17. Here are our mileage totals right now.0 days 5,0-5 miles 3,5-10 miles 10,10-15 miles 20 days,15-20 miles 31, 20-30 mile days 44.God Bless keep safe from all this rain.
Date: 2015-10-04
From: hot springs 

To: hot springs 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We are taking a 0 today bc of the rain and will start back out tomorrow so we can finish this trail. We will hike 22.8 miles a day for 12 days to finish. The weather looks much better starting tomorrow and we hit the smokies on Tuesday. The weather for the smokies is looking llike sun and 70 to 80 degrees for the week. God Bless and pray that everyone that has been affected by all the rain are safe.