morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-04-14
From: Gatlinburg, TN

To: Icewater Spring Shelter, GSMNP, NC
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Summary --I held up in a room at the Grand Prix and did my in town duties and, of course, ate like a pig. I left late the next day, hitched back up to Newfound Gap and walked a short 3m to the Ice Water Spring Shelter where I tented on grassy clumped, unlevel spot.
Date: 2009-04-14
From: Gatlinburg, TN

To: Icewater Spring Shelter, GSMNP, NC
Miles today: 3.0
Weather: moderate rain

April 14 --I woke up early enough to hand wash and drip dry, over the bathroom heater, my silk liner, take a half hour bath with my feet under water, clean my gear and repack and checkout by 11. I went to the Happy Hiker Outfitter, took my time chatting with the woman and shopping for light weight boots, no luck, 2 canisters of fuel and an 8-liter dry sack for my sleeping bag. I told her I would get something to eat and hit the trail later, she kindly said I could leave the pack there. I went to a pancake house in the rain, which had stopped when I had finished, so I went to look for a grocery store, but only found the culture shock eluded to yesterday. Here, at the only road through, and at the edge of, a Nat'l Park was a strip loaded with no less than 10 motels/hotels, big ones too, and enough junk stores to fill 30 Casino Piers at Seaside Hts, NJ. Olde Tyme Photo shops, air brush T-shirts, knives, weapons, wax museums, Ripley's Believe or Not, and I finally found a drup store where I bought an ACE type bandage for the left shin. It was then that I discovered while emptying juck from my pants pocket that my Park Permit was now a little ball of yellow paper -00ps! I made it back to the outfitter, chatted more, got a good looking weather forecast and bought a bandana that folds in half to read, "Hiker To Town", and "Hiker To Trail" on the other side, then I hit the road. I walked about 1/2m where there was a pullover, dropped my pack and pinned on my sign. About six cars later, a convertible, top up, pulls over, out jumps a woman and says, "Oh, I forgot about all the stuff in the trunk", it was Steph's Mom! She made her other daughter, Paige, I guessed about 15, sit in the back with all the trunk junk, crammmed, while her Mom and I talked 15m to the top of Newfound Gap where I was delivered safe for my 3m walk here to the Icewater Spring Shelter, where I am nearby comfortably in my tent, listening to the usual gusting winds and splattering light rain. There are other sound effects... I am not too close to the shelter, I am behind it, I heard slamming car doors, voices, moaning sounds, clicking, etc. It accually is good to be back on the trail, I find it amazing how quickly I become impatient at sitting around. Soon the trail will become an entity with a personality similar to the way the Stock Market is often described. That's the direction of this journal, rather than a Stardate blah, blah, blah account.
Date: 2009-04-15
From: Icewater Spring Shelter, GSMNP, NC

To: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, GSMNP,NC
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: overcast clouds

April 15 --The trail refuses to awaken from Winter sleep. The late chill in the air the previous evening at dusk combined with the overnight developed gusty winds resulted in a very brisk, very beautiful morning. Rime ice was everywhere. Nearby the tent I first thought we had a very heavy frost, but looking closely I saw the build up on most objects on the windward side. It was a chilly start interrupted many times with trips to the tree. With the mummy zipped all the way up it was a five minute ordeal out and back in, unzip mummy bag, jam, unjam, unzip tent screen, jam, unjam, unzip tent fly, jam, unjam, then, zip fly, jam, unjam, zip screen, jam, unjam, zip mummy, jam, unjam, zip mummy. I lingered hopeful that the weather would clear as Charlie's Bunyon was a long mile away, no such luck. The trail was decorated with rime and I stopped often to photo, some over 5" with 3" not uncommon, the longest at the exposed ridges with high winds. As the south side of the mountains slowly warmed, the ice began to fall in avalache fashion leaving piles of the stuff sometimes 3" deep, looking like snow white feathers or large white chips from an axed tree stump. The trail was occasionally still muddy and where the ice chips piled in the mud, a new sound was made as the boots plodded through, a crunching on the squishing mud crinkled like a cheap plastic bag from Walmart. The ice is very hard and brittle, and the ground piles lasted into the late afternoon, and I'm sure will be there tomorrow. I am tenting tonight at Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, in a spot with 2 other tents, almost touching, on a slant, pretty bad. The plan is to get an early start, ha, the weather should clear, ha, and leave the Park by sundown. The spring is very close by and sounds like a backyard fountain, the chilly mist is back for the evening, there is no wind, but Spring is close by. My wrapped left lower shin held up pretty well today, tomorrow will stress it with ~17m and a lot of downhill to ~1700' from now ~6000'.
Date: 2009-04-16
From: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, GSMNP,NC

To: Standing Bear Farm Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 18.1
Weather: clear sky

April 16 -- I have settled a long day in my tent at the near end stake in a grassy horseshoe pit on the Standing Bear Farm Hiker Hostel grounds just north on the AT of the Great Smokey Mtns Nat'l Park. It is good to be out of range of their rules and regulations and worrying about a $125 ticket for not havin a pack permit while horses are allowed to sh*t all over the trail. The trail is becoming active and interested. Mud is drying, winds are light and little green leaves are appearing everywhere, except in the pines where the sweet scent of fir trees hangs in the air like a NH woods. By lunchtime I looked North and behold, I was above the clouds and could see forever! It has been a long day and arriving here lenghthened it. There was a type of campfire singing going on and no one knew where the owner was to assist me. So I decided to tent where it was comfortable, helped myself to some beans from Miss Janet, on bread, and took a shower in a shed and made my usual tent dinner. Today went from ~6400' down to ~1400' at Pigeon River, about 1m back, to here at 1800'. Climbing tomorrow back to 4263' in ~4m.
Date: 2009-04-17
From: GSMNP, NC

To: Max Patch
Miles today: 0.0

Just a quick entry... I left the Great Smoky Mtns Nat'l Park last evening and I am at a $1/15min PC at a hostel, just past I-40, where I tented last night. All's well, the AT is awaking to Spring with this the second sunny, calm day. More to come this w/e from Hot Springs, NC on a big zer0 day.
Date: 2009-04-18
From: Max Patch

To: Deer Park Shelter
Miles today: 16.6

April 18 -- Tenting at Deer Park Shelter about 3m outside of Hot Springs where I will stay 2 nights and pick up a mail drop. Waking at Max Patch to a beautiful sunrise was exciting. The place was crowded with tents, mostly those taking advantage of the, ah, trail magic offer to have their packs driven to Hot Springs so they can "slackpack" which means rush, hurry the ~20m to Hot Springs. No thanks, and that, in my understanding, is another often misused trial term. Slackpacking was coined by one of the original AT guys to mean slinging a pack with minimum needs and going, with no specific destination or time constraint, like a rolling stone. Nowadays, most times its used to mean a stripped down or no pack for the purpose of faster travel on the AT, and without being accused as a purist, we thru-hiker hopefuls are, or at least by now have become, resourceful opportunists. A road crossing is a potential trash dump, a road access to a tower, for example, is a possible rest room which could mean a hot water faucet and a face wash, etc. The day was enjoyable. Like yesterday, the masses of brown leafed black mud are decaying and attracting flies, green and blue bottled types and common house flies crawling over the decaying mess, and small butterflies, mostly the brown stubby types, most of which I once knew the names.
Date: 2009-04-21
From: Hot Springs, NC

To: Spring Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

April 21 --Departure from Hot Springs was an unrushed 13:00 after I settled the bill at the Sunny Bank Inn and updated the journal, still a week behind, I passed the hardware store and briefly considered buying two mouse traps for shelter stays, nah, then on to the outfitter where I purchased a large Gala apple and weighed the fully loaded, three liters of water, 12 days of food pack in at 59.97#. Straight out of town I went and across the French Broad River bridge to the far bank and finally up the steep, rocky overlook. I knew that I had plenty of time so I easily took may pack off breaks in the warm sun. The walk was fairly easy and I felt somewhat annoyed when I remembered the bad sleep experience of last night. It was comforting to know that the tent tonight might not be level, but I would be comfortable. No doubt that the highlight of the day was the 0.2m off trail walk to Rich Mtn Fire Tower, 3600', a nice 360 degree overlooking Hot Springs and insight to the unsettled weather that would later being hitting my tent.
Date: 2009-04-22
From: Spring Mtn Shelter

To: Jerry Cabin Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: scattered clouds

April 22 Earth Day --To continue, there was some very local weather overnight, a dusting of snow on and around the tent this chilly morning that quickly disappeared. But I didn't, I puttsed around 'til after 11:00 and warmed up slowly to the cool and breezy, sunny day. A beautiful day to be in the woods. I didn't see too many people, although since Hot Springs, I've been coincident with Wandering Jim(Dandy), Cuz, Cruiser Don, Wind Breaker and Lady Slipper. There was a tone of relaxation on the trail today, a good distance to travel with no hurry to get here, the Jerry Cabin Shelter. The terrain looked easy on the contour map for the last 5-6m. The surprise was that the trail was extremely rocky and slow, but the exposed views were worth it. So I arrived here at the close of daylight, after 20:00. I ate a lot and drank out my water, the pack is getting lighter! Very clear skies tonight, chilly and, of course, the wind is blowing through nearby, with occasional gusts blowing through.
Date: 2009-04-23
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 14.7
Weather: clear sky

April 23 --The trail is content with the continued great weather, mostly sunny, warm, but relief can be found in the shade. The deciduous trees, esp the small ones, are opening and will soon provide a canopy of shade and, unfortunately, block whatever view of landscape. Today was tiring and I usually took off the pack once/hr. The pack is heavy. Many nickel-sized and quarter-sized sometimes stubby brown butterflies, some with tiny light blue spots at wingtip, adorn the trail seemingly happily flittering just ahead of my boots. The gnats are the worst ever. Now I am very sleepy.
Date: 2009-04-24
From: Hogback Ridge Shelter

To: Whistling Gap
Miles today: 13.5

April 24 --Yesterday marked the total milage of 312.8m which is about equal to driving across the state of PA on I-80 end to end, and anyone who's done it knows that it takes forever. Tonight the tent is set at Whistling Gap after a day with what seemed like a lot of uphill, but well worth the effort. Big Bald, 5516', is a 360 degree, massive, grassy top mtn and the weather was in perfect cooperation, actually a little on the warm side 80 deg by my "new" thermometer. I had an idea to push, big push, to No Business Knob Shelter, but that would have been a dark arrival. I heard thunder in the east and decided to stop here around 18:30, plenty of time to prepare. Its been sporadic company, I dont know who is where. One Step and Laughing Owl have been around almost every day since Hot Springs, Windbreaker and Lady Slipper too, but not today. Cuz too. The weather has been good the last two nights, I slept good, with birdies chirping and singing me awake and summer evening songbirds were singing tonight until dark. Now it is quiet enough to sleep. Last night more than one individual was on their cell phone, there is not much privacy in a tent in the woods. The owls have started their hooting again, the same hoot you'd hear the fake Indians do in the black and white cowboy movies when they were ready to attack or steal horses. I hope that is all that I hear as I drift off.
Date: 2009-04-25
From: Whistling Gap

To: Nolichucky Hostel and Outfitters
Miles today: 13.5

April 25 --It was an early start, walking at 8:19 on a warm, clear, sunny morning, the thunderheads from last evening leaving nothing. An early look at the High Rocks and on down to Erwin, TN. The approach was scenic, most of the town in view and the Nolichucky River was milk chocolate brown with mud, the thunderstorms to the east were real in NC and stirred things up in one of the feeders. The path had several burnt out sections, no shade and very hot walking. Down the many switchbacks I decided the Super8 would be a good deal, but when I arrived at Uncle Johnny's hostel and payphoned over there, the rates were $10 higher and they had no free shuttle. So I took a cabin at Uncle Johnny's, did my laundry, showered, and went to town to eat with the full 6pm shuttle of hikers. This being Saturday, I bought beer because no beer sales on Sunday and ate at the Mexican, the only place that served beer, 3 bottle limit! I dined with Cruiser Don, Uncle Johnny amoung others, and Cruiser inquired about white water rafing and Uncle Johnny said khew a guy, etc, and one thing leading to another as things usually do, I was shortly signed up. A spontaneous zer0 day. Patrick, the guy, said he would be by at 9:00. The hostel was a hopping place, not too many bunks, maybe 8, private cabins, actually a room with a bunk bed and a small TV, rabbit ears that received only Ch 11, a CBS affiliate from who knows where, and a lot of tenters, some with dogs, some sleeping on dogsh*t. WindBreaker and Land Slipper were there, and Cuz, Trigger, OneStep and Laughing Owl, and an aquaintance of Cruiser, Chuck, a section hiker from Devil's Gap, who dropped out of his group becauswe of leg muscle cramping.
Date: 2009-04-26
From: Nolichucky Hostel and Outfitters

To: Nolichucky Hostel and Outfitters
Miles today: 0.0

April 26 --The day on the river began as planned and quickly became a warm, sunny day. I was happy to trade a day hiking mountains in 85+ degree weather for splashing around in a cool river. We joined several small groups to become three vans full and drove about 1/2hr through Indian Grave Gap to Poplar,NC where the boat assignments and loading began. It was the three of us and another couple, 45ish, from NC, MaryEllen and Jerry. Chuck is a very energetic software engineer originally from Taiwan and very funny, at least he made me laugh a lot. Our guide, Adam, was probly late 20s and easy going, but, like all the guides on our four rafts, serious about their work. After a 15 minute dos/don'ts safety talk from Patrick, we put in, learned, and practiced commandsfrom Adam.   Everyone paddles and we were a team, and soon we were off. Some tricky rapids, category 4, were early in the trip, about 15 minutes, and all of the obstacles had names, Jaws, for example. We came upon On The Rocks and the boat was head on with a huge rock which Adam wanted to slide around, when suddenly, the left side of the raft dropped and MaryEllen and Jerry backward summersaulted into the river while Chuck, who was on my side up front, crashed into Cruiser Don taking them both out. I am giggling while writing this because I can still see it in my mind, all in a second. My reaction, "Sh*t, there goes the whole crew!", and I quickly turned to see Adam still aboard, big relief, then Cruiser was coming toward me in the water. We were taught to grab someone by the lifejacket and pull 'em in, he was still holding his paddle like we were taught, acutally he had 2, one got away, and I grabbed and tugged him in. Meanwhile, Adam had thrown the rescue rope and both Jerry and MaryEllen were on the line. I pulled in Jerry and Adam reeled in MaryEllen and they pulled her in. I didn't see Chuck bobbing anywhere. 20-30 seconds went by I felt panic, no sign, then looking back at the On The Rocks rapids, there he was, standing on some rocks, waving. Reunited, it took a while before our pulse rates, blood pressure and excitement levels normalized, and we had plenty to talk about, as we all relived our on version, the rest of the cruise which ended right at Uncle Johnny's. I later went to town again to the Mexican joint, no beer on Sunday. I ended up at CVS, bought a 10 pk of cheap razors and cream and started a new beard at 10:30pm. I also went to the supermarket for brocolli, asparagus, a small container of sour cream and back at the hostel, introduced a bunch of people to raw asparagus. The big Gala apple and 8oz block of Colby would be tomorrow's lunch on the way out.
Date: 2009-04-27
From: Nolichucky Hostel and Outfitters

To: Cherry Creek Shelter
Miles today: 16.4

April 27 --Great day, another beauty. Hiking away from Uncle Johnny's, I saw Steph, I said goodbye to Chuck, who gave me a parting gift of canned eel in chili sauce, and when I left aroud 9:45 I felt very refreshed as the shaded path wandered back and forth across the same stream for miles during the mild climb. After a brief stop at the Carley Maple Gap Shelter I headed for Beaty Spot, 4437', for lunch, the cheese and apple, and a very short nap. It was another vast bald with a nice breeze and very hungry, smaller, meaner gnats. The path then led up to Unaka Mtn, 5180', covered with tall spruce trees at the summit. I finally decended to Cherry Creek Shelter where I tented for the night.
Date: 2009-04-28
From: Cherry Gap Shelter

To: Ash Gap
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: clear sky

April 28 --Today was a day of dumb things. I am tenting 1.5m short of my intended goal of Roan Mtn Shelter at Ash Gap totally alone, except for infrequent noises. Anticipating a long, hot day I took breaks often and while at Greasy Creek Gap I found hand written notes, testimonials, regarding the Greasy Creek Friendly hostel that has "home cooked meals" "by Connie". I wavered, 0.6m... 15 minutes there, 20 back, it'll cost me an hour, I caved, and started down the trail. It was all downhill, 5 minutes later I was going to turn around, didn't, 8 minutes later same thing, so I arrived and asked if I could get something to eat, she said, "you will have to wait until I finish washing these dishes". I picked a lot of food from the menu, bu I over did it. The cheeseburger was premade frozen, the scrambled eggs and mozzarella sticks were 0k, everything reasonably priced. Anyway, when I finally got back to the trail after 6/10m uphill, 2 1/2hr had passed. Dumb. I had been drinking alot of waster and stopped at the Clyde Smith Shelter to refill. It was more than the advertised 1/10m off the trail, and the water source was rediculously far down a steep trail, so much so, I gave up. Dumb. I later found a spring along the trail and filled up. The climb to Roan is a long steep one and at Beartown Mtn I put on my headlamp so I could find the blue blaze(water) here at Ash Gap. Another absurd source for water and once again I gave up, so cooked #5 with some filtered water and I had only a little to get started in the morning. Dumb. My second toe nail, left foot, is dislocated with a large blodd blister that should be tended to, tomorrow, I'm too tired.
Date: 2009-04-29
From: Ash Gap

To: Doll Flats
Miles today: 13.7

April 29 --I am tenting at Doll Flats, NC-TN State Line, falling 2.5m short of the Apple Tree Shelter forced to stop due to a thunderstorm downpour. The morning was lazy, after fixing my poor toenail, popped and taped up, no pain or discomfort, I had no water for cooking, so I packed up and took on Roan Mtn. It has to be the most undermaintained and/or overused section on the AT. Roots strangling each other, ruts 2.5', and steep, straight up! It was a tough start, and no breakfast! The summit was not so impressive and down the other side to Roan High Knob Shelter, the highest on the AT, to get water where I made oatmeal and coffee while pumping and repacking. A parking lot at the bottom, Carvers Gap, TN, was the lunch spot for Circuit Rider and Sherlock, guys who I had tented with before, 50ish, very friendly, but always light talk, never a chance for conversation, until today. I wanted to dump my trash, they said the restroom had a can, after we began to talk. Circuit Rider went high school two towns over from where I grew up, now living in northern MI. Our conversation wandered for more than 1/2hr and the Make-A-Wish Triathlon came up. Sherlock has a close family member who was a wish kid, he knew all about it and Circuit Rider was so impressed, he pulled out his checkbook and made a donation to sponsor me in the September race! THAT, is Trail Magic! There is no predicting trail conversations, they go everywhere and end up anywhere. I left to climb several balds, grassy exposed mountain tos, a nice change to see way ahead and 360s. They soon caught me and were headed for "the barn", the Overmountain Shelter, too close and too early for me, so on to Little Hump Mtn and Hump Mtn, both balds, where I met, formally, Moe, Larry and Curley, 3 brothers from Holland, young, very nice, funny. I asked them what they knew about the 3 stooges and they said that they looked them uup on the internet. My only comment was that they were part of our culture when they said that they were named twice by two different people. We all climbed Hump Mtn and met at the summit where the clouds were forming a nsaty scene, definite rain to the west, thunder before long as the wind blew strong from the SE, we practically ran off the top, into the woods a mile away when the real rain started, a soaker. The trail became big rocks and delayed me in finding a place to take off the pack and donning the rain gear. It was slow going the last mile to Doll Flats and when I arrived the rain stopped and it appeared to be clearing as I set up tent, but no, as I set stakes and went for water. I had my hot foods, but now there is a strong cool, no cold, wind from the east. The hat, socks and gloves are on for the night. And the bears can just stay at home.