morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2007-04-04
From: Beech Gap

To: Rock Gap Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: scattered clouds

We survived our first thunderstorm last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and the air was still. When I saw flashes of light in the sky, I hopped out of my hammock and battened down the hatches, pulling the rainfly close and taut to the sides of the hammock. No doubt, lightning is my #1 fear on the trail, so it was good to have the first storm of my thru hike out of the way. The lightning passed nearby with out any close strikes, and before I knew it, my fear evaporated and I slipped off into a deep sleep to the sound of rain on my fly. I'm sure my hiker exhaustion served as a sort of sedative! After my initial anxiety wore off about being hit by lightning, it was hard not to marvel at the storm's beauty. Thunder just rolls for miles and miles out here and the wind funnels through the topography of the mountains, gathering force until it becomes it's own entity. It's a powerful and senseless display that is 100% antithetical to urban living. It was a good exercise in humbleness and scale to count off the distance of the strikes and develop a mental map of the physical mass of the storm.Absolutely perfect hiking today. The storm cooled everthing off and the day felt crisp. Lots of great views and a fun rock scramble up to the top of Albert Mountain. At the top, Avi and I climbed the fire tower and had some pretty breath-taking views.I felt good today. I may officially have my trail legs, or it could be due to the easy rolling terrain. At any rate, when we got into Rock Gap, we were slap happy because we were tired and hungry. Mistah Cheeks strolled in sporting his alien looking tin-foil pot cozy on his head. This shelter has a lot of grafitti. My favorite says "sexual chocolate"!!Other noteworthy news: We passed the 100 mile point today!
Date: 2007-04-05
From: Rock Gap Shelter

To: Franklin, NC
Miles today: 3.8
Weather: clear sky

Heading into town for re-supply seamed like a good idea. But then, on the ride into town with Ron in his short yellow hiker bus, I was confronted with the temptation of cold beer, cheap hotel rates, hot pizza...no! Run away! But, no, I busted out the debit card and got my civilization fix. A bunch of us are here right now trying to avoid a night of temperatures in the mid-20's: Lala, Step Small, Llama Punch, Moon Goat & Otto, Mistah Cheeks, Nice E Nuff, Torpedo, Avi and others. We swarmed into town and basically took over. You can't throw a stone here without hitting some stinky hiker in crocs. It's fabulous!!Town included re-supply, and since we're heading into the Smokies in a few days, and this is the last ideal place to buy supplies, I bought a boatload of food. My appetite is in overdrive and my supply of grub for the Smokies is ridiculously large. I won't tell you how much it weighs, but let's just say the shopping bag split from its mass. I mailed it all to Fontana Dam for later use.All of the hikers ended up showing up at our room at the Sapphire. Our crew, the Minnesotans, Plumber, Beast, Hangman, and Smokestack came by to drink beer and tell stories. Fun night in a special creepy hiker way.
Date: 2007-04-06
From: Franklin, NC

To: Siler Bald Shelter
Miles today: 3.7
Weather: broken clouds

We managed to escape the clutches of town and rode the hiker bus back to Winding Stair Gap this morning. There's an attraction and repelling force at play with town. It reminds me of when I did coastal sailing; at sea, the land had appeal. At shore, I couldn't help but stare longingly at the sea from time to time. The grass is greener sometimes...In keeping with the Southern tradition, Franklin treated us well. Ron Haven's Sapphire is a magnet for tired hikers. A former thru hiker pulled over and gave us a ride to the post office without us even asking, and one of the locals bought breakfast for Torpedo and Nice E Nuff. It's an incredibly hiker friendly town.We were ready to shoot and eat the dogs last night. It got ridiculously cold, into the teens, I believe. a real shocker to our spoiled selves. We decided that National Geographic should do a feature on us, focusing on soft suburban kids trying to stay warm 4 miles from Franklin. When things get the slightest bit tough or uncomfortable, our group (now dubbed "The Stallionaires")launches into fits of giggles and general idiocy. I can only imagine what the other hikers thought of us last night. We tarped up the front of the shelter and sat around laughing like lunatics in our sleeping bags.
Date: 2007-04-07
From: Siler Bald Shelter

To: Cold Spring Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: scattered clouds

We woke to an inch or so of powder on the ground and temperatures in the teens. It was freezing but beautiful. I wolfed down a breakfast bar and hustled the 12.6 miles to Cold Spring. I stopped at Wayah Bald to answer crazy questions from people who had driven their cars up the mountain. Wayah's parking lot went far to destroy the wilderness feeling. But, it was good to know someone else was there to stop me in case I went crazy from the cold and ended up crawling around the snow naked from the waist down, vodka bottle in hand.Hiking has turned into 6 hours of spacing out/mediation during the day and getting deleriously giggly with the other hikers at night. It feels so great -so natural. I'm one happy feral librarian out here.Lala and Bad Influence continued on to the next shelter, because Cold Spring was too crowded, so the Stallionaires are down to 5 plus Otto the Dig. We'll meet up at NOC tomorrow night or Monday morning. And we're still waiting on Jim to heal up and meet us down the trail.
Date: 2007-04-08
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: NOC
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

Last night was a night of hard core chilliness. Temps got down into the single digits, but we managed to stay toasty and happy using the "group spooning" method. Cold Spring Shelter was so packed...when one of us rolled over, we all had to roll over. I spent a good 15 minutes of my hike this morning doing deep knee bends and clapping my hands together to get the feeling back into my extremities. Thank goodness we were packed into the shelter like hot dogs in plastic wrap. The body heat made for a comfortable night.Step Small commented that our group was beginning to act as a pack. It's true. We travel together, eat together, and now we've even huddled together for warmth. In a few more weeks, we'll be roaming the hills hunting boy scouts as a pack of feral hikers.The temperatures rose to a pleasant level today, but it remained winter on the shaded sides of the mountains. It's funny how a single mountain has 2 different environments. One side of the mountain is warm, the other cold. One side is damp, the other dry.I had every intention of staying at the A.Rufus Morgan Shelter to save some money, but of course, I totally missed it and accidentally cruised into NOC instead. This meant that I got a bunk in their "base camp" (read plywood shanty town on the hill) and paid for restaurant food and beers. Actually, it wasn't such a bad mistake after all. I mean, there's heat here, so what more can I ask for? I quickly ran into Lala and Bad Influence who had a cold night at Wesser Bald Shelter. They zipped into NOC for breakfast this morning and spent the day taking it easy and thawing out. I'm a little skeeved out by my bunk here because there's a lot of scurrying sounds in the walls. If rats eat my food, I swear I'll ask for a refund!NOC is a mecca of fleece wearing crunchy types. These people manage to make thru hikers look not too outdoorsy. The people I'm sharing my bunk room with have gear like never even seen before. That's how outdoorsy they are! I mean what does one do with a helmet out here? Climb? Kayak? Should I be wearing a helmet? Probably. As far as the crunchy factor goes, the security guy is some 20 year old kid who drives a Subaru wagon. I have to wonder what he could catch me doing in order to bust me. Maybe if I vote republican, NOC can give me a citation? This place is a riot!
Date: 2007-04-09
From: NOC

To: Stecoah Gap
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Walk slowly and take very small steps. That's how the day started. I had the worst sinus headache of my life and felt like vomiting all the way up to Sassafrass Shelter. After climbing the 7 miles uphill, I threw down my pack and took a snooze for an hour. I felt like death warmed over. Funny though, an hour later when Lala and Bad Influence rolled in, I was up and ready to go once more. I figured I'd feel sick whether I was walking or laying down, so I chose to do some more miles. The day had a ton of ups and downs and was tough. The toughest yet, at least for me. Four miles before Stecoah, a southbond section hiker passed us and told us about trail magic. Bare Bear and Jellybean (both AT '06) hosted the best trail magic. They had hiker boxes, cocktails, fruit, hotdogs, you name it, they had it. So Great!! I was having a psychologically tough day and this trail magic made the trail wonderful again. Thanks Bare Bear and Jellybean!Another great thing about today is the warmer temperatures. It's been in the single digits and teens the past few days, so tonight's low of 35 degrees feels downright tropical. I'm back in my hammock once again too...I missed it.I'm going to try to get to Fontana tomorrow then possibly take a zero on Wednesday before I head into the Smokies. My mail drop of food supplies for the Smokies is under Step Small's name, and I can't access the box without her! I think she stayed at Sassafras, so I'll probably not see her until Wednesday anyways. A good excuse to zero.Moon Goat and Otto have their own mail drop woes. Their package never made it to NOC, so they hitched to Bryson City to sort things out. Dogs aren't allowed in the Smokies, so Moon Goat and Otto are going around. They'll be doing small miles, waiting for us to catch up. I look forward to seeing them then.Mistah Cheeks is also at large tonight. He's gone to Bryson city to get some dental work done so he can continue wooing the local girls with his pretty smile.There's a ton of us trail magic recipients camped out along side route 143. After stuffing our bellies with trail magic, we couldn't imagine doing the 2.5 mile climb to the next shelter, so we threw down our packs and are here for the evening. A good end to a tough day on the A.T.
Date: 2007-04-10
From: Stecoah Gap

To: Fontana Dam Shelter
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: light rain

Long Day. Great Day. Lala, Bad Influence, and I are at Fontana Dam with a huge crowd of hikers, and it's mayhem. I heard from Jellybean (of Stecoah Gap trail magic fame) that Step Small and Cheeks are staying at Cable Gap tonight and will be here fairly early tomorrow morning. Yay!To help the walking along, I put my headphones in to check out some of the local music. All I could find was gospel and country western, so country western it was. And I gotta tell you, I really like country western lyrics.The songs are about being broke, screwing up relationships, drinking whiskey, and driving beat-up cars. All things I can relate to. At any rate, the twang helped me up the non-switch-backed hills and made the day fun in a honky-tonk way. YEEHAW!!!!
Date: 2007-04-11
From: Fontana Dam Shelter

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We've been so spoiled by trail magic the past two days, and I totally forgot to mention yesterday's hiker feeds: breakfast, courtesy of Jellybean & Bare Bear, and dinner, courtesy of Hikers for Christ. This morning was a ham and pancake breakfast again...whew! I think my goal of getting chubby on the trail may be fulfilled afterall.   Life is Good!Either Fontana Village is logistically more complex than other re-supply venues, or we've become simple from spending too much time in the woods. It seems as though everything here is a long walk or shuttle ride away from everything else. Taking a shower at the visitor's center entails a 20 minute round-trip walk for example. But, the free towels and fancy-pants soaps from the Hikers for Christ made it all worth while, and it is good not to smell like a dirty yetti.Lala moved on to the Smokies today. He's anxious about beating the bad weather and took off with G-Smurf, a 90 pound hiking machine. Everyone from the group is now finding his or her own hiking pace, and unfortunately, hiking one's own hike entails separating from the group. No doubt, we'll all bunch up at places like Hot Springs or Damascus and have a Stallionaires reunion. Bad Influence is already talking about hosting trail magic near his hometown when we roll through. We'll call it "Stallionaire's week" a new A.T. holiday.There's an element of psychological and physical comfort to be found in a group. I've mostly hiked alone the the past, but now I find myself panicked slightly when separated from my partners even in the grocery store. We've hiked well over 100 miles together, and it seems like every mile of friendship on the A.T. equals 1/2 a year in the "real world". That's what you get when you eat, walk, and sleep together. This trail is definitely more about the people than it is about miles, food and weather.So the Smokies loom ahead. With the strict restrictions on where we can and can't stay for the night, the shelters are going to be terribly crowded. Not an issue for me, but I fear for the other hikers since I'm a snoring, drooling, farting, thrashing sleeping machine. I pity the fool who puts his bag next to mine. I've been hammocking except for two of the coldest days, so many have been spared my disgusting sleeping habits. But now, the truth is going to be out in the open. I will be the pariah of all A.T. shelters.There's a mob of us here tonight, all gung-ho to have missed out an a day of nasty weather in the Smokies. Many of the Stallionaires have been reunited for the evening. Moon Goat and Otto will be going around the Smokies, Llama Punch is taking a zero, and Bad Influence, Mistah Cheeks, Step Small, and I will be pushing north.North to victory! North to shelters filled with the sound of my snoring! Onward!! Yes sir...
Date: 2007-04-12
From: Fontana Dam

To: Spence Field Shelter
Miles today: 16.7
Weather: clear sky

I woke up last night thinking that the smell of fried chicken was drifting into the Fontana Shelter. It left me feeling disoriented and disappointed. My first on-trail olfactory hallucination.I did a little venturing outside the Stallionaires circle today, and I hiked with Mother Nature, Forest, Space Man, Grin, and others. It was a beautiful though windy day as we entered the Smokies. Once up on the ridge above Fontana, the hiking was composed of fairly easy ridge walking. So far, the Smokies are incredible and very different from the other terrain we've seen in the south.
Date: 2007-04-13
From: Spence Field Shelter

To: Double Spring Gap Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: overcast clouds

Today's hike was a relatively easy float above the ridgeline. A good part of the trail was perched atop ridgeline with drop-offs on either side and great views. We finally got our first chance to hike in the rain today. The weather, despite its record breaking highs and lows, has been kind to us, however.It's early afternoon, and the shelter is filling rapidly. Tomorrow is Saturday, meaning us thru-hikers may be left out in the rain because of the reservation system in the Smokies. Hmmm...do i see that as justification to go into the kitch-ridden hotbed of Gatlinburg? Perhaps. Last night's shelter was full up, so I set up my hammock only to tear it down later and sleep on the shelter floor. There was a fire burning in the shelter's fireplace, and it seemed so cozy. It made my hammock set up look cheerless and sorry. So, having little pride, I tore it all down and made a beeline for the shelter floor, and I had one of the best night's sleep ever.I've lost track of the days of the week here, but I found out that today is Friday the 13th. Upon discovering this, everything became SPOOKY! The torn-up front of Siler Bald Shelter was straight out of a slasher film. Same goes for the stunted moss covered trees on the ridgeline. All we need now is a bear wielding a chain saw and wearing a face mask.A helicopter just buzzed our camp. It did a drive-by then turned around and flew directly over us buzzing the tops of the trees. Yikes! Is there a fugitive on the loose here? It adds to the women's prison feel created by the chain link fence across the front of the shelter.Bad Influence and I have been sticking together-- a vestige of the Stallionaires. But tonight, He's M.I.A. It's easy to loose folks out here. But, it's also easy to quickly fall into a new group of people. I can't say that I'm feeling socially mobile enough to switch people so fast! The folks I met at Hawk Mountain and Gooch have disappeared (a few in front, a few behind, some dropped out all together). I can relate to Otto the dog's separation anxiety.Tomorrow: onward to Clingman's and to mile 200 of the A.T.
Date: 2007-04-14
From: Double Spring Gap Shelter

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was Clingman's day. The weather was so-so. We took the wrong approach trail to the top of the dome, and had to backtrack the .3 whiteblaze miles that we missed...a purist move that, trust me, is not characteristic of my hiking style. I already blew it by blue blazing in and out of the Siler Bald Shelter loop. The way I look at it, walking Georgia to Maine is a long slog and absolute white blaze perfection can't be 100% guaranteed.We said goodbye to Mother Nature today. She walked 200 miles with Grin, Two Dogs, Space Man and Forest, and they formed a nice little famlly. I met her only a couple of days ago and was blown away by her grace and lightheartedness. Unfortunately, her section hike was over and a ride was waiting for her at Newfound Gap.In the spirit of seeing the "real America", avoiding crowded weekend shelters, and dodging poor weather, we hitched in to Gatlinburg in the back of an enormous pick-up truck. Gatlinburg is a shockingly kitchy town where tacky tee shirts, xenophobia, and rebel flags are in abundance. I walked around for a good hour with my jaw hanging down to my knees. Imagine not seeing a road for a few days, then being thrust into the epicenter of an obese middle class entertainment explosion. Every shop here is a corporate doppleganger for other shops in other strip malls in America. It's gross. It's utterly fascinating. I'm glad I came.
Date: 2007-04-15
From: Newfound Gap

To: Newfound Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: snow

Forest, Space Man, and I showed Gatlinburg how to have fun last night. It was a "sailor on shore leave" debacle. We drank, we sang poor quality karaoke in a honkey-tonk bar, and we broke into the filthy motel pool to swim at 3:00 a.m. We also learned that our A.T. mileage is an effective bartering tool. Case in point: We had our cover charge cut in half because we told the bouncer that we'd walked 200 miles to drink a beer at his bar.Three weeks into the hike, and we've become accustomed to our lifestyle in the woods. We're beginning to have moments where we take walking 8 hours a day or drinking from streams for granted. Major tourist destinations remind us of how bizarre our plight is. Rolling into Newfound Gap, we got stares and probably a few "pee-yews" and pinched noses from our hiker stink! With chubby clean tourists looking on, I felt like an exotic animal who pranced out of the woods. Picture a unicorn, in bad need of a shower and a shave, trotting into an asphalt covered clearing, and that's pretty much the commotion we created. Throw in our boastful swagger, gained somewhere shortly after the 200 mile mark, and you've got some smelly folks getting way more attention than they deserve. It was great...15 minutes of fame and olfactory shame. As they say, " no fame, no olfactory shame, no Maine." Or something like that.I've been slowly loosing sensation in the big toe on my left foot. As has Space Man. We suspect it may have something to do with alien activity atop Clingman's Dome. Other than that, all is well...no blisters, no sore muscles. I'm grateful for and amazed by the way the human body performs.Gatlinburg celebrity sighting of the day: We ran into a large woman on the trolley. She had a tee-shirt on that said "will work for beer" and claimed to be a repeat guest on Jerry Springer. The real kicker was her shoes, a pair of crocs (official zero day shoe of the A.T. thru-hiker). Nope, she wasn't a thru-hiker, but she was a piece of work.There's been some poor weather and the road up to Newfound Gap is closed for the time being. This is our only entry point to the trail, so we are at the mercy of the weather. The good news: possibly another day in Gatlinburg. The bad news: possibly another day in Gatlinburg. We're sort of festering here in our motel room (did I mention that it's costing me a whopping $11 per night?). But the festering is really fun and relaxing.
Date: 2007-04-16
From: Newfound Gap

To: Gatlinburg
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, two zero days in a row...can you imagine it?! The road to Newfound was clsoed for a good part of the day, so we decided to stay one more night and make up the miles tomorrow. The road was closed because the wind and snow toppled a bunch of trees like dominos. As good an excuse to relax as any!Bad Influence, Step Small, Cheeks, and Vegas Jim are in Knoxsville with Jim's sister. If you remember from a previous post, Jim had to get off trail at Hiawasee to let his shin splints heal up. He's feeling great and is back in action. There's a build up of thru hikers here due to weather and closed roads. And, we're getting restless. Tick just cannonballed into the pool naked and is picking the artifcial flowers out of the flower boxes and leaving them on hiker's doorsteps. We're so restless that Space Man and I went for a day hike on the Gatlinburg Trail. A day hike! That's crazy...Being in town, we had access to TV and radio and heard about the massacre at Virginia Tech. It's jarring and sad to hear such news. We've been playing in the woods for the past few weeks, and it's left me feeling totally detached and protected from the insanity of the real world. I remember watching the evening news in NYC and cringing at the roster of daily mayhem. It'll be good to melt back into the mountains and resume my fixation with simple and relatively predictable things such as water and shelter.
Date: 2007-04-17
From: Gatlinburg

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: clear sky

We escaped Gatlinburg's clutches and were rewarded with an outstanding day of ridge walking in the sun in mild temperatures. There was a good bit of snow and melting run-off, and we saw our fair share of blowdowns. The Smokies have been the best hiking so far due to the views (and, I suppose, because we missed the winter storm).My belly's been on strike for a few days, and it's been a challenge to force myself to eat. Anyone who knows me, knows that I eat like a horse, so this is odd. I figure my body is sorting out some business...doing some hiring and firing with germs or something. At any rate, it hasn't affected my energy level or ability to sleep.We had a mad, mad hitch into Newfound Gap. The proprietress of the Gran Prix Motel stuffed us into her mini-van and took us on a wild careening ride through the mountains. She warned us ahead of time that she was a notoriously poor driver, and her windshield had a huge crack in it. After the first few turns where she made the wheels literally squeal, we settled down and enjoyed our ride. And, I think some of us even found religion barrelling through the mountains.