morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2019-04-23
From: Derrick Knob Shelter

To: Mt Collins Shelter
Miles today: 13.0

April 23 (Day 31): Today we hike to the highest point on the whole AT - Clingmans Dome. We left Derrick Knob shelter about 8:15am. When we came up to the Silars Bald Shelter there was a deer standing not 20 feet from us eating grass. It didn't seem the least afraid of us. The whole trail that day was a beautiful hike. Everywhere there were fields of flowers and the closer we got to the Dome the more beautiful. It was like a fairy land. Everything was covered in a soft, green moss. The path was soft to walk on from all the fir needles. Some of the trail consisted of walking in shallow streams. We could hear all kinds of birds. It really was a gorgeous hike and even though we were hiking up to the high point the ups were not terrible. I wouldn't mind if the rest of the AT were like the Clingmans trail.At one point we stopped to talk with a fellow hiker and then he suddenly said "Bear! Or boar!" We turned to see a huge wild boar cross the trail below us. We couldn't believe how big it was!We came off of the trail at the paved path, from the parking lot, leading up to the Dome. As we stepped onto the pavement, a mom and her 2 kids were coming up and the mom said "Look, kids. It's the real deal!" Then they stopped to ask us questions and have their picture taken with us. Mini celebrities! Lol!There is a low, concrete semi circle wall just before you start up the walkway of the Dome. Sitting on the left side of the wall we're all AT hikers. They cheered as we walked up and we all congratulated each other on making it 200 miles. Yep! Clingmans Dome is the 200 mile marker! (It took us 19 days to make 100 miles and only 12 days to make 200 miles.)The Dome is an interesting structure. It has a circular concrete path that ends in a covered dome at the top. You can see for miles if the day is clear and we had the perfect day! Funshine and Pebbles had waited for us so we could all take pictures together! So we took lots!It was 4:35 by then and we still had 3.9 miles to go to get to the next shelter, plus the half mile walk into the shelter. The Mt Collins shelter does not have the trail going right through it. So off we went. Why does it seem that the last mile before a shelter is straight uphill?! We seemed to walk parallel to the road for a while and I wondered why there would be a shelter so close to the road. But we hiked and hiked and I was afraid that we had missed the sign for the shelter, until a few younger hikers went flying by and said it was just up ahead. (A lot of the hikers have an app called Guthooks. It shows the trail in detail and gives detailed information on topography, shelters, local area info, user comments, and will show you exactly where you are.) We dragged into the campsite about 7pm. It was deep in the woods and the air was humid. We ate dinner and hit the sack!We hiked 13 miles today (13.5 if you count hiking into shelter).
Date: 2019-04-24
From: Mt Collins Shelter

To: Gatlinburg, TN
Miles today: 4.9
Weather: moderate rain

April 24 (Day 32): Left Mt. Collins shelter at 7:50am, our earliest yet. Had to hike the half mile out to the trail. The rest of the hike was really nice. Loved walking through the moss covered forest and listening to the birds and looking at all the flowers. We had to cross a bunch of wooden bridges made from fallen logs. They were really pretty.We came up to the parking area for the Road Prong Trail and there was trail magic! The ladies told us that to provide trail magic in the Smokies they had to be interviewed by the Forest Service and then pay for a permit! But they do it anyway, every Wednesday for 6 weeks. It was great!We continued on the Newfound Gap and it was much more than the gaps in GA. There was a large parking lot and a large stone viewing area dedicated on the golden anniversary of the Smokey Mountains for "excellence in conservation, restoration, and enjoyment". We also had our picture taken at the NC/TENN border line. Another state down!The free shuttle offered by a local church was not due until 12:30, so we had 1-1/2 hour wait. We decided to hitchhike. A nice couple on vacation offered to take us to Gatlinburg. We arrived at the NOC and got our gear out. We called for a hotel and got a nice rate at the SureStay. We gathered up our gear and realized that we had left David's hiking poles in the couple's car!! They were long gone and we had no way to track them down. We only knew they were Gwen and Kevin from San Antonio. Arghh! We felt a cross between anger and frustration.We checked into the hotel and then walked over to the NOC to buy him new poles. We also bought a waterproof bag for our food. Putting them in Walmart bags, hanging them on the bear chains, and then hoping they'll stay dry just doesn't work.We came back to the room and as I was sorting through dirty laundry I heard voices, familiar voices, on the balcony. I walked out and there were the 2 Cindys and Wren! We all just laughed. We couldn't believe that we got rooms right next to each other, without knowing it.We knew we needed to do laundry and for resupply, so we all trucked down to the trolley stop and had to take 2 trolleys to get to the laundromat on the other side of town. The grocery store was a 1/4 mile from there. We walked as much today as we would have on the trail, but without all the rocks and tree roots to climb over.We didn't get back to the hotel until 5:30. Little Cindy and I walked over to the Texas Steakhouse a while later to get take-out burgers. Then back to the hotel to relax. Finally!Still put in a 4.9 mile day, not including the half mile hike out of the shelter.
Date: 2019-04-25
From: Gatlinburg, TN

To: Gatlinburg, TN
Miles today: 0.0

April 25 (Day 33): I've never seen Gatlinburg so we decided to take a zero here. The day was cloudy but it didn't rain. Before sightseeing I walked over to the NOC and left a note in case the kind couple that gave us a ride to town, saw the poles, and thought about contacting the NOC. It was worth a try. (I also said a lot of prayers.)We walked around and checked out all the candy stores and even bought some salt water taffy. We didn't buy any souvenirs because there was no way we were adding any weight to our packs. We did decide that we needed to bring Mackenzie and Megan back here. Those 2 love to souvenir shopping!I really wanted to go to the Ripley's Aquarium, but they wanted $35/ticket and I didn't want to spend $70 so we just continued meandering. It was nice to just walk slow without any particular destination in mind.We shared a late lunch at Bones BBQ. Had pulled pork with coleslaw and potato salad. It was very good. Topped it off with Starbucks - coffee for David and a chai tea latte for me.Went back to the hotel and checked the weather for the 1000th time, hoping the rain would pass us by when we hit the trail tomorrow morning. We packed up and prepared to catch the 8:30 shuttle from NOC to Newfound Gap. A local church offered hikers rides into town and back to the trail twice a morning. It still shows that it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I hope we are ready. Everytime I think of the rain, I get flashbacks of our hike to Yellow Gap and the rain and wind and our scary falls. Rain, rain go away...
Date: 2019-04-26
From: Gatlinburg, TN

To: Peck's Corner Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: light rain

April 26 (Day 34): So David watched the weather like a hawk and talked me into waiting until the 11am shuttle. He said the weather kept looking better and better and we might miss the rain. So glad we did that.We got off at Newfound Gap and were on the trail by 11:38am. The weather overhead looked cloudy but not threatening. We wore our raincoats and put our pack covers on but didn't bother with our rain skirts.The air was misty but not enough to even get our pant legs wet. The wind was unbelievable! It blew at 30-40 MPH with gusts up to 50 MPH! We love walking along the ridges because you can see so much but today was nerve-wracking. Luckily the gust were blowing us toward the mountain and not away. At one point, however, I had to plant my poles and hunker over them until the wind gust died down because I was in danger of getting knocked over on the trail. Sometimes the trail would go below the ridge line and we would have some time that we weren't getting battered.  We walked along a couple miles and saw the sign for the Icewater Spring Shelter. It was about 1pm. David decided to walk down and see if anyone was there. He called me and when I got there I could see smoke coming from the chimney! Inside were a few hikers, including Phoenix, one of the Ozark Spear Boys, and Banana (he had gotten off the shuttle with us and said he was freezing). We stayed for a few minutes to warm our hands and then headed out. Banana said "Boy, are you brave!".We hiked along and continued to fight the wind, but then the sun started peeking out every now and then. So the hike was pretty good except for the wind gusts. We decide since the ground would still be wet from yesterday's rain, we would stay in the shelter tonight.Eventually we made it to Peck's Corner Shelter and, boy were we surprised when we pulled back the tarp. The shelter was packed with people, including Chappy, the 2 Cindys, and T-Rex! They couldn't believe we had been out hiking "in this weather". At the same time we were at Icewater (at 1pm), 8 miles down the trail (where they were) they were getting battered with torrential rain and hail! Most of them were there from the day before and decided to take a zero rather than fight that weather. A few guys had staggered in from the previous shelter and we're dripping wet. They had the fire going to keep warm and dry clothes and equipment. They said they had had 20 people crammed into the shelter the night before. They couldn't believe we had not run into any of the bad weather!The bunks were full but Chappy had put out her footprint and slept on the floor in front of the fire the night before so we took that spot. (Some folks had decided to try and brave the weather and move on so Chappy was able to get a bunk.).We did 10.5 miles today and 38 minute miles.
Date: 2019-04-27
From: Peck's Corner Shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: clear sky

April 27 (Day 35): We left Peck's Corner Shelter, which was a half mile hike out. It was a long day but we really moved along at the beginning. By the end of the day I was so exhausted and, of course, the last mile to the shelter was completely uphill. I dragged into the shelter in tears at 5:10pm. I so want to stop by 3:30 or 4pm each day but it hasn't worked out that way yet. In the Smokies you HAVE to stay IN or AT a shelter. No stealth camping. Eight to nine hours of hiking every day is wearing on me.The Cosby Knob Shelter wasn't crowded at all, but we pitched our tent. Our hiker neighbor, Cindy, said to camp by her. The site was nice. It turned out to be on a slant and we slid down hill all night. ?At the end of the day, however David calculated that we had done 36 minute miles, our best yet, and had hiked 12.9 miles.
Date: 2019-04-28
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Campsite below Standing Bear Hostel
Miles today: 10.7

April 28 (Day 36): Today we started at Cosby Knob Shelter and hoped to make it to Standing Bear Hostel.At one point during our hike an ATC member stopped us and asked if we were thru-hikers. We told him yes and he asked how the cleanliness of the shelters and the trail was. We told him we thought things looked really good. He also said that we needed to put in the box the remaining portion of out thru-hiker permit when we hit Davenport Gap. Woo hoo! We are almost out of the Smokies!We hit Davenport Gap and put our permits in the box and said goodbye to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.The rest of the trail was pretty good. We had to cross a number of streams/rivers by jumping big rocks. One of the highlights today was a different type of lookout. We came to the sign for the Lower Mt. Cammerer Trail and kept going, downhill. We went maybe .2 miles farther and I asked David where he thought the "lighthouse" was. We pulled the AWOL book out and found that you had to go down the trail we had just passed! So we hiked back up and the 2 Cindys were just coming down the trail path. It was .6 down the path but they said it was worth it. So off we went and, boy, were they right!!It's called the Mt. Cammerer Lookout not fire tower because it is built on the ground where as a fire tower is built of wood or metal and goes up into the air. The building was 8-sided and looked just like a lighthouse. You could go inside it and there was a large floor space and windows all around. It had a balcony that went all around it on the outside so you could walk 360 degrees around. It was just beautiful. We also knew of 3 fellow hikers that had spent the night in the lookout.The rest of the hike was downhill for the most part. We came out at road and then had to walk across the Pigeon River Bridge. Then we had to walk along the road until we came to an I-40 underpass. We turned right and started up a gravel road and then saw an AT sign. We got back on the trail and seemed to be walking parallel to the gravel road. We came back down to the gravel road again but David stopped before that and began walking along the river. He found a really nice campsite. I was concerned that someone would come along and make us move but, as David likes to say "Better to ask forgiveness than permission". ? So we set up camp, made dinner, and filtered water. We went to bed with the sound of the river lulling us to sleep. Found out later that we were just down the road from Standing Bear Hostel. That's ok. I think it was for the best. Word was that there was an outbreak of norovirus at Standing Bear.We hiked 10.7 AT miles, but 12.3 (to lookout).
Date: 2019-04-29
From: Campsite below Standing Bear Hostel

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: clear sky

April 29 (Day 37): We left the stealth camp, down from Standing Bear hostel. So glad we stopped to camp because we thought the hostel was right on the AT trail and would have continued on the trail looking for it but would not not have found it. Chappy and the 2 Cindys came walking down the gravel road from the hostel and yelled hello across the river.Once we were packed up, the climb was straight up for 4.5 miles. It was brutal. The day was nice day but very hot. It was a lovely walk across a meadow to the top of Snowbird Bald and the view was beautiful. Both the Cindys and Chappy were there. They were just getting ready to leave. Tall Cindy had not been feeling well since last night. Oh no, noro! We agreed to meet at Groundhog Creek Shelter. We really enjoyed our rest and snack at the bald and then made our way to the shelter. David had picked out a campsite at the shelter but we all decided to stealth camp another 2.5 miles up at Hawk's Roost. We all wanted to get some extra miles in so the final walk to Hot Springs wouldn't be so long. Since there was no water between here and there we cameled up. Water is really freaking heavy. One liter of water weighs 2-1/2 pounds! David usually carries 2 liters and I carry about 1-1/2 liters. My little toe on my right foot had been really causing me alot of pain all day. At the shelter I put some gauze padding around the toe and it felt much better. I also loosened the laces on the boot toe box. After we all got our water we started the climb up. David noticed his camp shoes were no longer on the back of his pack. We knew we had to go back and look for them. Finding size 14 shoes is not easy. They had fallen off at the campsite where he had dropped his pack. He was exhausted and hungry so we just decided to stay there send catch up with the girls in the morning. We hiked 6.9 killer miles today.
Date: 2019-04-30
From: Groundhog Creek Shelter

To: Lemon Gap campsite
Miles today: 11.8
Weather: light rain

April 30 (Day 38): We got up at 5:45 this morning to try and catch up with the girls if possible. They are fast hikers! The climb up went on for several miles. We hoped to meet them at Max Patch, but by the time we got there they were gone. Max Patch was once used to graze cattle but is now a popular place to come for the views and beautiful grass covered bald. We stayed and relaxed and ate a nice long lunch. When we first walked across the grass s man stopped David and asked if he could talk his picture with the mountains in the background. Then another man stopped him to ask questions about our thru-hike. He felt like quite the mini celebrity!I pulled the rain tarp for the tent out to dry it and laid it across the grass and then pulled off my shoes and socks. David was the celebrity and I probably looked like hiker trash! Lol!As we left Max Patch, 2 women, Doris and Suzanne, stopped to ask us some questions about our thru-hike. Suzanne asked if we would like some pecans and we jumped at that. Then Doris said that all the had was some trail mix send would we like it. Before we could answer, Suzanne said "Oh, they're hikers. They'll eat anything. Like the people we feed at church on Sunday. The homeless people." We just smiled, but after they had left and we had walked on, David and I burst out laughing! "Hikers eat anything. Like homeless people." But she's right. We don't turn down offers of anything! We love any kind of trail magic!We didn't catch up to the Cindys, but decided to stop just short of the Walnut Mountain Shelter and stay at Lemon Gap. The campsite was big and Charles and Charles ended up joining us along with 3 other hikers. The river flowed past in 2 places and we enjoyed a nice bath and foot soak.We hiked 11.8 miles today.
Date: 2019-05-01
From: Lemon Gap campsite

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 14.4

May 1 (Day 39): We got up early (We had to use our headlamps to see.) and left lemon gap. Trying to decide if we could make the 14 mile hike into Hot Springs, NC or should get close and then hike in tomorrow early. The trail would mostly be downhill the whole way. In the end we did hike into town. There were a few uphills, but mostly down.The town was much smaller than I thought it would be. Not even a traffic light! We sat on a stone wall calling around to find a room and who walks by? Diesel! We were so excited to see her. We didn't think we would catch up with her. We knew she was coming back on the trail at Davenport Gap but didn't know when. She was staying at Elmer's Sunnyside Inn, but it was full. We finally found a room at the Alpine Court (Room 1 with a king size bed and A/C and a frig). Found out the 2 Cindys were there too (Room 5).We ate dinner with the 2 Cindys at The Smokey Mountain Diner. David ate his pork chop dinner and part of little Cindy's meatloaf dinner plus dessert! The food was delicious and plenty of it!As we were talking, a man stopped and asked if we were thru-hiking. We told him yes. He said he had just retired and his 3 grandchildren (ages 12, 10, and 8) were also thru-hiking (slack packing) with their parents. The grandparents had an RV and were meeting them each day. A support vehicle. We had heard of a family doing that and were excited to meet them. Grampa told us the youngest boy's trail name was Yahoo. They were putting in 18-20 mile days! They were from Maine. We talked for several minutes and thoroughly enjoyed it. A minute later the waitress came by and picked up our checks. The grandfather came back and said "God bless you and have a great and safe hike. Dinner is on us." We were overwhelmed by his generosity! What great trail magic!We hiked 14.4 miles today! A record!
Date: 2019-05-02
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: mist

May 2 (Day 40): We decided to take a zero day in Hot Springs. Little Cindy was still feeling bad. There is a festival (the French River Festival) in town this weekend and all the rooms are booked everywhere. We tried to get a cabin for the 6 of us, but couldn't find anything. David, Diesel and I ended up staying at the Alpine Court again (room 6). Went to the Smokey Mountain Diner for breakfast. It is now David's favorite place to eat.We went to the dollar store and did a small resupply then went back to our room to go through our packs and send home stuff we don't need anymore. After that we hit the outfitters and I got some good rain gear and a belt. No more boot lace. Lol. We also bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. There was a scale there and David stepped on it to check his weight. Completely dressed and with his hiking boots on, he had list over 25 pounds! In 6 weeks! He would tell me everytime he went in another notch on his belt and I knew he had already gone in 4 notches, but this much weight loss in so short a time really has me concerned. I've lost 10 pounds. I have read that men tend to lose more weight and faster than women do, on the trail.We stopped by the Post Office and got a box to mail home our stuff. It was great to lighten our packs some! Their computer was down so we couldn't send it out. Arghh!Back at the hotel we decided to go to the Hot Springs Resort and soak in a hot spring. We stopped at the P.O. and the computer was up so we sent our box. We got to the resort about 3:10 and got a reservation for 3:30. The resort is really pretty. We got a private tub, for an hour, filled with water pumped straight from the springs. There is also a mister overhead that you can turn on. It was so relaxing!After that we arranged to meet Tall Cindy for dinner at the Iron Horse Station restaurant. The food was incredible. David had snacked all afternoon so he wasn't really hungry and ended up just ordering onion rings. They were huge! I got a fantastic chicken sandwich with cheese and avocado.During dinner we talked about everything and had a great time. At one point we talked about trail names and David started telling them about some he had come up with like Walkman Killer (I didn't put it in a bag and the rain fried it) or Energy Killer (I didn't lock my headlamp and burned out the batteries.) He also liked Seabiscuit because at the end of the day, when he is dragging, I tend to get a spurt of energy and really climb up hills. I didn't want yo be named after a horse. Diesel said she liked it and the meaning behind it. (Check out the YouTube video of Seabiscuit's famous race.) We also talked about our routine when hiking. I mentioned that I love to soak my feet at the end of the day or if we come across a good stream during the day. I said that it felt so good. Cindy commented that I had happy feet then. Then she said "Hey, that should be your trail name because you like penguins too. Just like the movie!" So I am now Happy Feet! David is CoffeeBean.After a great dinner we went back to the hotel to prepare for our hike out.
Date: 2019-05-03
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: .1 stealth campsite past Spring Mountain shelter
Miles today: 11.1
Weather: mist

May 3 (Day 41): We got up at 5:45 this morning and were at The Smokey Mountain Diner for breakfast by 6:20am. We were to meet the Cindys 7-ish to hike out of town.We met them closer to 8 and Chappy joined us. Our group of 6 said goodbye to Hot Springs and walked across the bridge over the French Broad River and down the AT trail along the river before finally beginning the mountain ascent.The uphills were tough because the air was so hot and humid, even early in the morning!We stopped for a long break at a place called the Dammed Pond. There was a beautiful stone wall built to dam up the pond. It was a really tall dam wall too!Little Cindy is still recuperating from her bout of noro. She still feels a little weak and hasn't eaten a whole lot. She thinks it was food poisoning but David ate a good chunk of her meatloaf and suffered no ill effects. And food poisoning doesn't last several days so we think it was noro. Chappy's the only one now that hasn't had it.Got back on the trail and hiked to .1 past the Spring Mountain Shelter. David wanted to go on but I was done. We set up camp with Chappy and the 2 Cindys. Amy was just below, at the shelter.The bugs are absolutely horrible. They're like little flying gnats and they swarm all around your face. I pulled out the netting on my hat and it was better.We hiked 11.1 miles today. It was nice to hike with a group of friends.