morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-04-20
From: Town and food

To: Ice Water Shelter Gap
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: scattered clouds

What a difference a zero-day in town makes for your body and mind. Woke up this morning refreshed and ready to go. After two cups of coffee 3 Donuts 3 bananas and anything else I could get a hold of I was ready to head back into the woods.   No hitchhiking today because there was a $5 shuttle that would bring you all the way back to Clingmans Dome. The van had to drop off the other hikers at a different destination first so I was the last one to get to the trail. Even with the late 12 o'clock start I made good time with my fresh legs. Briefly coming out of the woods at the 7-mile Mark today were spruce and evergreen trees that had a strong smell of Christmas back home. Just then in the parking lot I noticed a man with a white van setting up Trail Magic. With 50 hot dogs and a case of beer he made a lot of friends fast. I'm now at Ice Water Shelter with about 20 hikers. I'm opting to stay in the shelter once again where it is much warmer. The park has hung heavy tarps in front so it is totally enclosed. This also saves a lot of time in the morning with no breakdown of your tent to get ready. Planning on a big mile day tomorrow to try to beat the rain that is supposed to come in tomorrow night.$10
Date: 2016-04-21
From: Ice Water Shelter Gap

To: Crosby knob shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The wind was howling this morning. There were a few fresh blowdowns of large evergreens right across the trail. Even though I estimate the wind at around 40mph it's not affecting me in the least because I'm on the west side of the ridge. The Food Bag on my back for the next three days has a lot of treats I'm looking forward to. Was getting sick of eating the tuna and salmon packets along with rice and pasta. So in town yesterday I picked up dehydrated chili and vegetable soups. With about triple the amount of lunch snacks I usually carry. Right now I have with me a dozen Slim Jims. Numerous Cliff bars, packets of pepperoni, and the always-present jar of Skippy peanut butter which is eaten by the spoonful like all the other hikers.   On a different note I was surprised at the intelligence level of the people I'm meeting out here. Not sure what I was expecting but a lot of the older hikers have either lived in another country for an extended period of time or have traveled the world . I have very little to interject in a lot of their conversations, for a lack of knowledge on the subject. But it's very interesting and I sit and listen and ask questions. A lot of the younger hikers seem to be going to, or have graduated from Ivy League colleges. It's interesting to listen to them and their perspective on different things. When I don't agree with their theories or ideas I just keep it to myself.   Okay back to the trail. While bloging this I've had about 8 people go by me from this morning so it's time to Huff it to the shelter and have lunch with the gang. My 45-minute Head Start has disappeared as everyone has caught up to me.   The last six miles of the trail today was tough but went along quickly because I spend it talking to a doctor from Maine. It was a nice change from hiking the first 6 hours today completely alone. Just arrived at Crosby knob shelter and it is packed. Once again my age might work to my benefit as I will find out at 7o'clock if I can grab the very last spot in the shelter. This would be huge because there's a lot of rain coming in tonight and tomorrow and I don't want to be out in my tent.Time to cook supper and wait to see where I'm sleeping tonight. After 19 and a half miles today very tired. Goodnight$Zero
Date: 2016-04-22
From: Crosby knob shelter

To:  Standing Bear Farm
Miles today: 10.2

Last night did not go as planned. After watching all the hikers filter in and take every level camping spot. I was told right at 7 o'clock that the section hiker with a paid permit just walked in and I could not sleep in the shelter. So I set up my tent on a very uneven slope and the minute I finished the task it rained for the next 8 hours. After packing up a wet tent in the morning and setting off for Standing Bear shelter 10 miles away things got a lot worse. Somehow within the first two miles I lost one of my flip-flops. I ended up falling twice today on wet rocks. Surprisingly both times I was stopped on the trail and was not hiking when I fell.   Just when I thought I was getting close to Standing Bear I took a wrong turn and went a mile and a half extra in the pouring rain. My poncho was also ripped to shreds and looked like I had been attacked by a bear. Finally arrived at Standing Bear Farm very cold, wet and tired. A few hikers commented that I looked pretty bad and one guy came over and jokingly gave me a hug and a beer. Then it was time to make a beeline for a hot shower. To my surprise the pack cover I had found in a hiker box a few weeks back worked out very well and most of my clothes and sleeping bag were dry. Hooray. This is a very unique community and they are self-sufficient with running water, electricity, generators and all kinds of contraptions hooked up to sustain them.   Good company tonight. With the rain there must be 40 hikers here. I'm warm in a dry sleeping bag and hopefully I don't have another day like this for a long time. Time for bed.
Date: 2016-04-23
From:  Standing Bear Farm

To: Max Patch
Miles today: 14.0

Slept in this morning after a late night with everybody. Lots of Trail talk and fun. Ended up cooking scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast. Didn't leave Standing Bear Farm until noon. It really takes a day like yesterday to appreciate today. After eight and a half miles and having a late-afternoon lunch at the shelter it's just too beautiful to stop for the day. Max Patch bald is about another six miles and is a must stay for the trail. Only have about 3 hours left to get there.   Got to the top of Max Patch around 6 o'clock. Wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the next shelter. Then around the next corner in the middle of a field, Trail magic big time. Baked potatoes, Pizza, hot dogs and beer. So needless to say the eight hikers I was with all stayed the night.
Date: 2016-04-24
From: Max Patch

To: Walnut Mountain shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

Those thru-hikers from last year really know how to throw a hiker party. I helped clean up in the morning and load up their homemade car that they used to drag in all the party supplies. Then it was off to Walnut Mountain shelter a short 7 miles away.   Today was the most water sources I've gone by. Must have crossed 10 streams today. It's nice when you don't have to worry about how far it is to refill your water bottles. I got to the shelter early enough to secure a spot so I don't have to set up my tent tonight. Went to bed very early and I'm planning to try to get into Hot Springs by noon. Everybody is saying the entire town is jam packed because of the big fire. The town is shuttling hikers 12 miles around part of the shenandoahs but I'm planning to zero there Monday and the talk is that the trail will be reopened Tuesday. That would be perfect and I'm really curious to see what it's like walking through a fresh forest fire
Date: 2016-04-25
From: Walnut Mountain shelter

To: Hot Springs North Carolina
Miles today: 12.0

Woke up very early this morning. On the trail by 5:30 with the Moon's still shining bright. As usual very excited to get to one of the towns I've been reading about for years. The 12 miles flew by thinking of Cheeseburgers, Pizza and a warm bed.   I forgot to mention how spectacular Max Patch was the other day. It's bigger and nicer than I had imagined. There is at least one hundred acres of freshly cut field and a 360 View that goes on forever.   Just walked into Hot Springs. It's a cool little community. Everyone is talking about the big fire right outside of town. We are going to be skipping 18 miles of Appalachian Trail this year as they have shuttle buses for all the hikers to go around the fire. As I am typing this there was just a big flare-up. The helicopters came right over the ridge and can be seen from the middle of town. That will be tomorrow's picture I'm going to take one right now..
Date: 2016-04-26
From: Hot Springs North Carolina

To: Hot Springs
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The town of Hot Springs has never seen so much business in its existence. Between the peak of thru-hikers and a raging forest fire burning thousands of Acres the town is in a frenzy. Talk to many firefighters which I don't have much in common with because they are forest rangers. But it's still very interesting and they had a lot of questions for me about fighting structural fires in the city.   There was also a crazy incident yesterday morning in which the largest store in town closed and the owner decided to empty all the alcohol in the store dumpster. At 9 in the morning the first thru-hiker discovered this and the next thing you know 200 cases of assorted expensive beers were dispersed throughout the town. The thru-hikers attacked that dumpster like an army of ants. It took until the end of the day before the store owner realized what was happening and padlocked the entire dumpster. Too late!! 250 thru hikers didn't spend a dime on beer this week. and I got my 2 cases of Budweiser.   So for the second night in a row I am staying on a beautiful campsite directly on the French Broad River in Hot Springs. Shared it with four other hikers which comes out to $6 apiece. One of the nicest campgrounds I've ever seen. Needless to say I have been in the river 3 times and have taken multiple hot showers already. It's hard to believe but everyday I get more and more excited about this trip. It's now time to go get some ice cream, apple pie and lasagna. Am not looking forward to the 20-mile shuttle around the fire tomorrow morning but it is already considered the true Appalachian thru-hike Trail. Nobody's getting through and the fire, still raging. I am thinking about after Damascus Virginia in the middle of May coming back and doing those 18 miles. We'll see. Goodnight.
Date: 2016-04-27
From: Hot Springs

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

It finally happened. Not only a 0 day but a double zero. The town is still buzzing with activity between the fire, the dumpster beer and the large bubble of thru-hikers. I'm one of the lucky hikers that does not have to rely on the town shuttle tomorrow morning as Miss Janet promised me a ride directly to the trail head on the other side of the fire.It will be a restful day of jumping in and out of the river while making a dent in the dumpster inventory.
Date: 2016-04-28
From: Hot Springs

To: Jerry Creek shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: clear sky

They doubled up on the shuttles this morning which made it easy to get back out in the woods quickly. I was hiking by 10:15. Is very muggy and buggy which made me feel good about my decision to send back some of my cold weather cloths. Next town priority will be to get some good bug spray. Hopefully something natural and not this one hundred percent DEET some of the hikers are using.   It seems I survived health scare number 3 the last couple of days. Walking into Hot Springs I sat down at the first Diner that I saw and ordered my meal. I noticed that my shins we're past the point of annoying and we're now starting to hurt. When I look down both legs were very swollen from my knee to my ankles. There was so much fluid on the top of my shins that I could depress my finger about three quarters of an inch and the indentation would stay in my leg for a minute. All the hikers were rolling their eyes and asking me to do it over and over saying how cool it was. Out of the 20 different diagnosis I got in town, one guy told me that I probably had congestive heart failure. He was serious. Really wasn't amusing to me. Maybe it could be I was doing too many miles while eating very salty foods and not hydrating enough. Dhah!   The double zeros in town along with some lower mile days and compression socks are really doing the trick .I'm sure that the 32 miles I did in about 30 hours was the cause.   Decided to go all the way to Cherry Creek shelter. Apparently so did about 40 other thru hikers from the fire bubble. This is the most people I have ever seen at a shelter and it looks like a tent city. There are young hikers playing their guitars at the fire and people singing but I'm just too tired to participate and I'm going to bed before it gets dark once again.
Date: 2016-04-29
From: Jerry Creek shelter

To: Hogback Ridge shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: clear sky

Woke up today to almost no swelling in my legs. What a relief. Even though I feel great I'm not going to try to do another 20 mile day until my legs are totally ready. The walking today was different and much easier than we've been accustomed to for the last month. Hiking through fields and Farms is a great change from the big Mountains. A local woman on a motorcycle stopped when she saw me hiking and I got her to take this picture. My first style Crossing into someone's farm.   Was anticipating a long slow day of miles to the next shelter when all of the sudden out of nowhere a sign on a tree States Hiker's Paradise Hostel. Once at the road crossing another sign stated that if you go to a hiker's paradise they will bring you right back up the road to the trail .They also had pizza and donuts. Offering a ride back and only having to hike extra half-mile was all I needed. One minute into the walk towards the Hostel and there was a umbrella with a cooler under it. Yeah. Trail magic before you even get to the pizza and donuts. A local couple had filled a cooler full of oranges and hard boiled eggs on ice. Each orange and egg had a little verse from the Bible but that's how it is with most trail magic down here. These people really don't push their beliefs on you but they get across their message in a subtle way. After a quick hard boiled egg and oranges I sang out loud the next half mile until I got to the hostel. Upon arrival it went something like this. A whole loaded Pizza, yogurt and an ice cream sandwich washed down with a Gatorade a Yoo-hoo and a Yuengling. Pure Heaven!    After the feast I now feel great and I'm going to try to go seven and a half more miles to a dirt road where I'm hopeful I can hitchhike to a hiker bash at Uncle Johnny's hostel. If it's too far or the plan does not work out I will just stealth camp at one of these remote sites in the Woods by myself tonight. Feeling full and good .Excited to be on the Appalachian Trail.
Date: 2016-04-30
From: Hogback Ridge shelter

To: Shooting for Erwin Tennessee
Miles today: 18.0

Another very crowded shelter last night but good music and good stories around the campfire.   After one month completed on the trail I figured I'd explain a few things about how the whole system actually works. Let's start with the hostels. There are over 100 hiker hostels on the trail and these bunkhouses mainly consist of additions to people's houses, garages or even above stores and restaurants. They can be very rustic with nothing but a piece of plywood to sleep on and a shower for $6 or as elaborate as a full kitchen with many bathrooms and Wi-Fi for $30. The Proprietors of these establishments are often times more interesting than the hostels themselves. Quite the characters.      There are over 250 shelters spaced six to 12 miles apart all along the trail. All of them are 3 sided Log Cabin construction and usually sleep anywhere from 8 - 14 people. You will find two other separate trails from every shelter. One will usually head straight down a hill to a reliable water source. The other Trail will go around a Bend for your privy. The privies are usually also three-sided and when you're sitting down you're looking out directly in the woods. If someone were to approach they would see you at the knees and shoulders.   You can also find hiker boxes which are nothing more than a laundry basket or a cardboard box filled with discarded items from the hikers that have passed through the establishments along the trail. Pretty much every motel, hotel, or hostel and any destination that caters to hikers has one or more of these boxes. When getting into town most of the kids are so excited to see food or a place to stay they don't think of asking right away. The very first thing I always do is ask do you have a hiker box? I have gotten many quality items out of these along the way. It's so much fun digging through the boxes. It's like going through a lost and found but you're not doing anything wrong by taking whatever you want.   That companion which you see for the picture of the day is pretty much the Bible out here. Every single thing I mentioned and ten times more is in that book. Elevation, 500 water sources, maps of every little town. Even if you never plan to hike the Appalachian Trail this is a must buy book. I have literally read through this 2 dozen times just dreaming about being out here someday.
Date: 2016-05-01
From: Shooting for Erwin Tennessee

To: Last 11mi into Erwin
Miles today: 1.1
Weather: light rain

The end of the day yesterday could not have finished up better. Ran into trail magic twice during the 12 quick miles. Then Miss Janet (#1 trail angle) was waiting to bring us into town. At the moment I'm hiking with 2 young guys from Massachusetts. They were cage fighters (pretty tough). The other hiker (Slow-Jam) is from Kansas City. On the way to the Super 8 for the night. Miss Janet invited us to a birthday party for her daughter. One hour later 31 hikers invaded a Mexican restaurant including myself.   At 10:00am the next morning Miss Janet picked the 4 of us up and brought us to Spyvie Gap where we ended yesterday. Everybody was expecting a wet day. So with my pack cover on we started our quick 11 mile day. The rain never came but it was the easiest day of hiking so far. The terrain was a gradual downhill all the way into town. Knowing you have a warm, dry bed at the end of the day does wonders for the mind and body.   I passed the 300 mile mark the other day and it was the topic of conversation around the fire the other night. Most of the hikers were patting themselves on the back when a German hiker stood up and stated " Ya know, we have to do it 6 more times in a row". That took the wind out of a few sails.   Although 20 mile days were not in the forecast for a while, things have changed. The body feels great and the 4 of us just got an offer we could not refuse. Tomorrow will bring a change from the normal routine of the trail. I'm excited about the next 2 days. Stay tuned!
Date: 2016-05-02
From: Erwin Tenn

To: Iron Horse Gap
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: light rain

Last night miss Janet picked up a bunch of hikers and dropped us off at the first Walmart on the trail so we could resupply. Like a kid in a candy store we ran up and down the isles. She then offered us up the deal of the day. She would take us 20 miles north on the trail to Iron Horse gap. Drop us off and 10 of us would then hike back to Erwin Tennessee where tonight she put us all up for free at her daughter's house. Then bring us back to the trail tomorrow and send us on our way. Just too good of an offer to refuse and especially when we're anticipating heavy rain this afternoon and tonight. So it's 12 noon right now and I'm at the top of a mountain getting a little bit of service but I probably won't be able to check in until late tonight. I still have 15 miles to go and I'm hoping I can get done before sunset.    With the sound of thunder all around during the day I was counting my lucky stars for not a drop of rain fell. When the 10 of us got dropped off, a group of the young hikers took off like rabbits and a few of the older guys hung way back so once again I hiked most of the day by myself. The terrain today was very diverse and at one point thousands of red spruce at the top of a mountain once again reminded me of back home. It's now 7 o'clock and I wasn't sure how much further I had to go. I knew there would be no showers or way to clean up tonight so I took everything off and once again jumped in an ice-cold Brook. If I only had a crystal ball I never would have made that decision. Because as soon as I got out of the water the rains came down hard. In the 25 minutes it took me to do that last mile, everything I have is soaking wet including my sneakers. When I got to the parking lot and saw Miss Janet waiting it took the edge off a long day of hiking. She explained that most of the hikers finished two hours ago and everyone was waiting for myself and a few other people. Looking back on the day, it was my first and very last time of slack-packing. I did carry my entire backpack but going South just didn't feel right. Never again!! By 8 o'clock that night we were all at her daughter's house. With a very quick change of clothes were off to an all you can eat Chinese buffet. We arrived 35 minutes before closing but Miss Janet has lived in this town her entire life. She has been to all these places hundreds of times so they let us stay 40 minutes after closing. We ate everything they had. With a full belly after 4 servings, myself and an older gentleman got the best bedroom in the house which was appreciated, even if there is no electricity or water in this place. Time to rest after a long day.$15
Date: 2016-05-03
From: Iron Horse Gap

To:  Clyde Smith Sheltet
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: light rain

The morning in town started with breakfast at the waffle house. I thought we might be on the trail by 10:00 but then somebody mentioned laundry. Our shuttle got sidetracked and the trip to clean clothes ended up to be a 4hr ordeal.Long story short I did not start hiking until 5:00 in the afternoon.     As time goes by out here I find I like going into town less often. It's not as relaxing as you think and all you want to do is get back out in the woods. This day in town left me no choice but to hike until dark. I was looking for a level spot to set up camp around dusk when lo and behold there was a shelter sign. Perfect at least I'd have someone else around me tonight. As I approached the group someone yelled out my name and stated that there is room for one more in the upper left space of the shelter. Once again I jumped at the opportunity to not have to set up my tent. It couldn't have worked out better because early in the morning we were woken up to the sound of rain hitting the metal roof of the shelter. A short disappointing day of hiking but I will use my down time more efficiently from now on.    If I could find a silver lining to the cloud today it would be that I left town with a full charge on my phone, a belly full of food and the times that it did rain this afternoon I was under a dry roof.