morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-06-13
From: A Rufus Morgan Shelter

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 1.0
Weather: broken clouds

We both slept well last night and didn't get up until around 8am. Had our coffee and breakfast and set off eagerly for the outdoor center and a shower. It didn't seem like a mile and was a nice walk but already very hot and humid.We are staying at the Dogwood lodge - a small room with a Queen bed on the bottom and twin bunk up top, we have our own bathroom but its across the hall, a little different but all they had apart from the bunkhouse and Richard finds it hard to sleep with other people snoring....ironic coming from a guy who sounds like a freight train when he snores, I snort as I fall asleep, I know as I've woken myself up a few times. I wear ear plugs every night now, that way I don't hear the snores or the beasties roaming around the forest at night. I am really surprised I haven't had a nervous breakdown sleeping in the woods with all the bears etc and its absolutely pitch black at night with no cultural light interference at all and I'm scared of the dark , yes I know, at 21 years old I should be over it by now! but I'm still a big baby!Thankfully I use a she-wee. My sister Dawn, who has been up Everest and the Himalayas, so knows all about the trials and tribulations of the female bathroom situation told me about it. So, I purchased one (from Walmart no less) Dawn had said that her's was too short and so had found an extension, so I tried mine out at home and also needed a longer one...its really a cup with about a 3 inch tube so women can pee standing up. Well my extension is a bit long but I was really thankful one night when I was desperate and didn't dare wake Richard who was sound asleep, anyway, the rustling around the tent was just too much for me to go out but I was in dire need, so, I just opened the zipper about an inch and stuck my extension tube through, thankfully the ground sloped away from me. I was going to chop off some of my extension cos its a bit like wrestling a fire hose but who knows when I'll need to poke it out of the tent again.Had bbq pulled pork sandwich for lunch and sat alongside the river watching the kayakers go buy, pizza for dinner and watched tv until around 9pm.
Date: 2016-06-14
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 0.0

Slept really well last night, got up around 7:30am had coffee and watched tv in the lounge...living like normal people again. Had a very long shower and since the store sold individual razors I was able to shave my legs.... the hair was almost long enough to plait (braid).Went to the restaurant for breakfast. Saw lots of people we know from the trail, the two guys we were leap frogging with for a couple of days have had enough of sore knees and blisters so are leaving the trail today. The 3 guys and the girl are here, one of the guys has hurt his knee and the girl hurt her ankle so are staying a 3rd night which might end up a 4th if they want to avoid the storms tomorrow. Its supposed to storm this pm and all day tomorrow. we are just lounging around in the air conditioning and taking it easy.Collected our package that James mailed us and sent home stuff that we decided we could live without, we are trying to cut as much weight from our packs as we can...time to cut the handle off my toothbrush I think. oh! by the way Mike aka Trail Ninja had to leave the trail about a week ago, his knees got too bad but hes hoping to get back on in a few weeks.
Date: 2016-06-15
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Nantahala Outdoor center 
Miles today: 0.0

Well we met up with Tony from Muskrat Shelter again last night and had a chat and a beer with him. It rained hard for hours last night and didn't clear up until around 10am so we had a really lazy morning and didn't venture out for breakfast until around 11am. We saw the 3 boys and a girl leaving for the trail as we were heading down. We went to the outfitters and bought some bivvy blankets to put under our sleeping mats while we will be in the shelters in the Smokie Mountains since we both have summer sleeping bags and it's supposed to be around 10° cooler in the smokies. I also bought more Permethrin to respray my cloths and gear since I've washed them more than the recommended 6 times and have noticed more flies etc bugging me. I was very tempted to buy a lightweight shower they had it held 10 litres and you could get a 7 minute shower...maybe next time. We spent the day fixing our gear, packing food and doing laundry but did go to the restaurant for a late lunch early dinner. I'm just itching to get back on the trail and into the Smokies mind neither of us are looking forward to tomorrow's 4000 foot climb up Cheoah Bald first thing, there is a Shelter at the top that is around 6.5 miles from here so if we are toiling we'll stay there.Apparently the uni bomber set off a bomb near the general store here some years back, he lived in the mountains somewhere around here too. The things you learn and see and the people you meet on a journey like this is amazing.
Date: 2016-06-16
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Sassafras Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: light rain

Up around 7am and took our time over breakfast and coffee so didn't start hiking until 9am. I almost immediately started gasping for breath and it was up up and away for almost the whole day, not an easy day at all but I started out feeling like a limp lettuce after so many days off, I felt like I had lost those trail legs that I had slogged so hard to get but glad we didn't attempt to weather the previous couple of days of storms. Arrived at sassafras shelter around 3:30pm to be joined by Jorge, a guy from Germany who we had met at NOC, he started the trail at Springer 6 weeks ago but injured knees had forced him to stay in Franklin for 2 weeks and a week at NOC, by the time he got to sassafras he was hobbling so badly Richard asked if he could help him, the poor guy climbed into his sleeping bag in the upper deck of the shelter and stayed there until morning. A father and 4yr old girl arrived later as did a very talkative and I mean very talkative elderly lady called Barbara. We put our fly screen up in the lower part of the shelter since there was just us two and Jorge in the 14 person shelter the others wanted to stay in their tents.
Date: 2016-06-17
From: Sassafras Gap Shelter 

To: Brown Fork Gap Shelter 
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: few clouds

Wow! What a hellacious day! All the climbs were just straight up and all the downs were either straight down or looked like those scary ski jumps they were so steep.It absolutely pored down with rain for at least an hour last night to the trail was slippery especially in parts with many tree roots, I slipped and twisted my ankle early morning but taped it up and kept going.We had our first trail magic...bananas and bottled water left on a table at Stecoah Gap by Lonnie...thank you kindly Lonnie. We met Manimal who joined us in some trail magic munching.Then we climbed Jacob's ladder OMG! There's a wonder I don't have blisters on my nose as I was walking almost parallel to the ground the hill was so steep, half way up I just stopped and started to laugh (almost hysterical I'm sure) it was so steep it was just plain wrong. Do we have to climb every mountain in NC can't we just walk around one or two? When Richard got to the top he said "I think I just broke my ass on that last bit" then we both just burst out laughing...relieved we'd got to the top! We got to the shelter around 4pm and 2 people heading south were already there in their tents. It was a small shelter so the tent, their packs and they'd hung their laundry in the shelter filling the shelter. The water was down a steep hill and of course a steep climb back up..Oh what a day! A father and son,also heading south arrived a little later also intending to sleep in the shelter. The laundry line was taken down eventually after Richard asked but the tent remained and the father and son and Richard and I lay head to foot, not much sleep at all since every time the guy next to me moved he either bumped my head or feet and as you know I don't sleep well in shelters anyway.
Date: 2016-06-18
From: Brown Fork Gap Shelter 

To: Cable gap shelter
Miles today: 6.1
Weather: broken clouds

Lazy day today,didn't get up until 8am wanted the people in the tent to pack up and leave so we'd have some room to have breakfast, the father and son left at sunrise. I had my head eaten either by ants or mosquitoes last night and itching like mad. A girl from Maine arrived at around sunset and set up a hammock outside the shelter. We lent her our spare battery to make a phone call to book in at NOC it turns out she's at the same uni as James though doesn't know himore.Left camp at 10:15am it was a gorgeous day not too hot or humid. The first couple of miles flew by and it seemed we made good time all day. Met the very cable gap shelter but it was very small and the floor was convex so they all moved on. It was only 2pm so I did some laundry and set up the tent right outside the shelter, I couldn't stand another night in a shelter but convex floor or not Richard was determined to stay in the shelter. 2 families from Auburn AL are staying in tents around the shelter also (no, we didn't know them from Auburn). They have 4 kids and a dog so since bears don't like dogs I think I'll sleep well even though I'm on my own in the tent tonight.we all ate dinner around the camp fire (unlit) and chatted until 8:30 ish, then a teacher from Florida...Del arrived and then a group of about 8 teenagers arrived.
Date: 2016-06-19
From: Cable gap shelter

To: Fontana Village Resort
Miles today: 5.5
Weather: broken clouds

Slept like a log all night,Richard was awake a few times in the night. The shelter register said there was weird noises coming from under the floor at night and huge spiders in the corners, Richard checked with his torch but didn't see any untoward beasties...no wonder nobody wanted to sleep there. Richard was up at 7am but I didn't surface until 8am...we had a lazy Sunday morning"father's day" chatted with another hiker who wondered in and sat and had breakfast with us. Started hiking around 10am. It was a really beautiful day and great hiking, a couple of small mountains and then a long easy decent. We got to Fontana Marina around 1pm and called a shuttle to go to Fontana Village we thought- it turns out that Fontana Village is actually a resort with a large lodge, lots of cabins, 2 pools, grocery store, restaurants, putting puttgolf (which Richard won)and lots of other stuff. There is nothing else around for about 20miles...a popular bikers route called The tail of the Dragon is here also which has 318 curves in 11 miles, so there are lots of bikers at the hotel.It seems like everything from shuttle to marina is run by the resort, even a lady cleaning the bathrooms at the parking lot was later cleaning the bathrooms in the hotel.we have a lovely clean large room at the lodge/hotel and for only $69 per night. Walked downhill to the grocery store, had lunch at the grill and did our laundry. Met a lovely guy- Chaz were worked at the grill. Seems this is a dry County except at this resort. After there laundry we walked back up the hill to the hotel and had an early night.
Date: 2016-06-20
From: Fontana Village Resort

To: Fontana Village Resort
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Went to breakfast around 8:30am and somehow I managed to pull a muscle on my left rib, wasn't doing anything but walking to breakfast but boy it's painful. We walked down to the grocery store bought a couple of odds and ends, played putt putt golf Richard won by many points, played ping pong which I won, had lunch at the grill and then walked back up the hill and spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. Went to the hotel restaurant for dinner- crispy duck with chilli sauce, got roast and collard greens for me and bistro meatloaf with collard greens for Richard yum!
Date: 2016-06-21
From: Fontana Village Resort

To: Fontana Village Resort
Miles today: 0.0

My Ribs,well down and left of my shoulder blades is really painful so decided to take another day. Spent all day in the room lying on bags of ice though did venture out for breakfast and dinner. It's a little better this evening but decided we will take another day to.orrow and if it's not better by then we will just have to go home. My sholder blades were burning occasionally while we were on the trail and I'm wondering if that is the cause since I can't think of anything else that has happened.
Date: 2016-06-23
From: Fontana Village Resort

To: Fontana Hilton
Miles today: 1.5
Weather: clear sky

Set off around 11am, in no rush since we were only planning on the mile and half to see how my Ribs felt. Actually they felt fine, better with my pack on, maybe because I couldn't twist and had to walk with my back straight, or fall over, since we have 9 days of food with us. So, we are continuing through the smoky mountains which we have to do in 8 days but it's only around 82 miles so around 10 miles a day, mind at least 2 shelters are closed because of excessive bear activity so we may have to walk further since we have to stay in a shelter?The Fontana Hilton Shelter is a large double decker shelter...sleeps around 18 or 20, has gorgeous views as its situated right on the lake. There are at least 4 benches with picnic tables and great fireplaces...positively palatial but has the usual mice activity. There were camping sites on the hill above the shelter and they were concrete slabs that looked flat and since Richard had checked and no rain was due we set up the tent on one of the slabs. We spent most of the afternoon chatting with another hiker who happens to be a high school art teacher, then settled down around 8:30pm. It was so hot and humid we tied both door flaps on either side back so we just had the fly screen. Well around midnight I saw lightening in the distance so decided to close my flaps but Richard said it wasn't going to rain so left his open. Next thing I know it was tipping down with a hellacious thunder and lightening storm that shook the ground quite a few times, during the lightening illumination if anyone was watching they would have seen Richard and I in nothing but underware and headlamps scurrying around trying to secure the tent and grabbing our backpacks and boots to put under the door flaps to keep them dry. The storm raged on for at least 2 hrs before moving out but the rain lingered on until around 8am. We stayed as snug as the bugs in our tent but my backpack got soaked as is now hanging on the fence to dry.
Date: 2016-06-24
From: Fontana Hilton

To: Fontana Hilton
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

With the tent and my backpack soaked we decided to let everything dry out today and start off for the smokies tomorrow. We have a 12 mile hike to the first shelter so need to be up and at it early.There are real toilets and hot showers in the toilet block which were relatively clean so I had a nice hot shower and washed yesterday's cloths....zipped up the tent to dry in the sun and we walked about a mile or so to the marina to get an extra days food since we are staying an extra night now.We are at the marina now, next we plan on walking to Fontana dam and visitors centre before heading back to the camp site and hopefully a dry tent and pack. Huh! The dream continues. Thanks for your email Kevin...just think this could be you next year.
Date: 2016-06-26
From: Mollies Ridge Shelter 

To: Derrick knob shelter 
Miles today: 12.4
Weather: few clouds

Awesome views awful mountains and thank God no bears, though we did see 2 wild turkeys. Up and out of camp a little after 8am just behind Demetri who was a guy from Newport Orleans who got to camp after dark last night with a Marine and his wife. He wasn't feeling good on the trail this morning. It was hot and sticky and nowhere to stop for lunch so we decided to walk 0.4 miles down to Russell Field shelter to have lunch. We met Anastacia and Keith who were there for lunch and to have Anastacia's blisters worked on. If we had known what the next 6.5 miles were going to be like we would have stayed the night at Russell. We climbed up to 5440 feet to the top of Rocky Top Mountain...the song rocky top Tennessee...wrong song, should be stairway to heaven it was a horrendous climb but the views were outstanding and certainly worth the climb. Then climbed straight down and straight back up Thunder mountain, aptly named since the thunder rolled as we climbed down it and storm clouds loomed. We didn't get to the shelter until 7:30pm and totally exhausted since the last mile to the shelter was so steep, as it was last night, boy was I ever pleased to see that shelter. Then, of course, to get water you had to climb up hil...yes, both ways!By the time we got water and ate it was 9:45pm. Before we even got ready for bed the mice were running all over the place. Demetri hung his pack and before he had even walked away a mouse ran in it. The Marine guy clay and his wife Melissa arrived later as did Keith and Anastacia and while they were eating the mice were running around their feet with Melissa leaping up and down shouting kill them kill them but we all just laughed, laughter tinged with hysteria for some of us. Hopefully since I'm exhausted I'll sleep and not feel the mice walking over me.
Date: 2016-06-27
From: Derrick knob shelter 

To: Double spring gap shelter 
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Omg! The mice were aweful..all in our packs, we leave the pockets open so they don't chew holes to get in, one ran up my arm urghh! I bear lyrics slept a wink last time I checked the time it was 4:30am and people had stopped swatting the mice they seemed to have lost interest in us cos I didn't hear them or feel any running on my sleeping bag after that.Not too bad of a climb today until the last mile which was a steep climb to the shelter. Seems to be a theme in the Smokies to put the shelters at the top of a big steep climb! It was thundering for the last 30mins of our hike but we managed to get to the shelter and get water before the heavens opened and it rained cats and dogs for about an hour. There were 20 of us in a 12 person shelter, 2 people slept on the floor, Clay (the Marine guy) and Melissa slept in their hammocks, with Drew and his brother and stone age man slept in his tent while another guy, who tried to charge his phone by making a fire, slept under just a tarp....oh! And hundreds of mice I'm sure. No bear sightings today but did see a huge turkey and the tail end of a small brown snake....the only end I care to see thank you very much. Anastacia has the worst blisters I have ever see, the nail on two of her toes are just sitting on blisters and the heel blisters are so deep it's painful just to look at them.
Date: 2016-06-28
From: Double spring gap shelter 

To: Mount Collins shelter 
Miles today: 6.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Up early, there were so many at the shelter last night but thoroughly enjoyed meeting them all.said goodbye to Demetri who was not enjoying himself, Anastacia and Keith had to leave since her blisters were so bad she could barely walk, they were such fun I'm going to miss them. They did give us their food before we left though which saved us from having to make a detour into town.We reached 2 milestones today-200miles and climbed the highest mountain on the trail-Cling man's Dome.We got to Mt Collins shelter and met an old man and a few mins later 3 boys arrived. The boys had stayed at the shelter the night before, had got up early to Hike to 3 chimneys and had left their packs hanging on the bear cables. When they got back about one min after we arrived they found one boys pack stolen along with his boots and the other two packs had been taken down from the cables and cloths and other stuff was missing from them. The boys called the Ranger but the old man left hurriedly before the Ranger arrived. It was a real life who done it as we all (3 boys,Clay and Melissa, Jake, myself and Richard and two new people Michael and his wife Sunshine. It kept us occupied for a good couple of hours trying to figure out where the pack could have gone. The Ranger arrived and checked all our permits,poor Jake had just got on the trail and didn't have a permit so he was given a written warning and had to pay on his way out the next day. 2 brothers from Florida and 2 girls from Florida later joined us.
Date: 2016-06-29
From: Mount Collins shelter 

To: Ice water spring shelter 
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: clear sky

Another milestone today, broke the 2000 mile barrier now only 1972 to go- slowly but surely we are getting there.It was cold last night and while we had no mice run out on us during the night they were all over the place this morning. The 2 boys from Florida slept in hammocks with no sleeping bags and one was shivering at breakfast.We had a lovely morning hike and managed to call James at Newfound Gap. The gap was heaving with people many of whom were intrigued by our exploits and wanted photos taken with us...we obliged of course!We got to the shelter at around 1pm, it was situated on a hill with gorgeous views. I immediately hung a line and set about having a "bush shower" and washing our smelly attire. Sometimes the smell is so offensive I just have to wash my t-shirt near a stream and put it back on to dry. Richard warned the people who wanted photos not to stand too close ha! Ha!We had a really fun evening, Micheal lit a fire as he did last night but tonight's fire was roaring. Sunshine also did laundry and Clay our Mrelationship fix it rigged cloths lines for us using our hiking poles and lengths of his paracord...we looked like bona-fide ho boss. There are only the 6 of us here and it's been so much fun...almost burned up Sunshine's leggings on the fire a few times tonight and she'll probably find big holes in them from the sparks that flew from the fire.
Date: 2016-06-30
From: Ice water spring shelter 

To: Tri-corner knob shelter 
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: clear sky

Up very early this morning and saw a gorgeous sunrise. We have a 12+ mile hike since some shelters are closed those pesky bearso have been causing trouble again! Had an easy hike to Charles Bunion outlook and awesome views, took pics with clay, Melissa, Micheal and sunshine then we set off for a treat with views galore...makes up for the lack of views over the last few dayseconds I had been expecting wonderful views daily since we are in the Smokies. Some of the ridges today we're around 18" wide with a steep drop on both sides if you fell off one side you'd be in Tennessee and the other North Carolina.Made good time and got to the shelter around 4pm, there are bear warnings all over the place oh! I hope none pay us a visit tonight but the shelter is packed so plenty of bodies to scare and ward one off. Early to bed tonight since we have a huge 16 miles to go tomorrow. We may be on day 40 but with zeros, rain days and injury time outside we've actually only hiked for 3 weeks, oh well we are never going to do this again so we are enjoying everyday and place we see.