morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-04-24
From: sassafras gap

To: Standing Indian
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I finally crossed the border into North Carolina. I have been 83.3 miles from springer mountain. Plus 8.8 of the approach trail. Soon after crossing the border i came to the big knotty oak. It is as huge as I had pictured it. I really feel good now. I am seeing and touching things that I had only dreamed of. I climbed court house bald. It was no bald and had a steap climb up. It started rainning a day ago and has not stopped yet. When I got to the top of court house bald, I could not see anything. The clouds rolled in and it was if I was hiking in the clouds.WOW. I am in a state of constant awe. I walk around with my jaw dropped. I also am begining to recover quicker each day. I am trying to eat as much as possible. I finally made it to standing indian shelter. There was a guy who thought he had giardia. Blah! Everyone gave him some water and there actually was a docter there who gave him something. I do hope he makes it out alright.I put my tent up due to a full shelter. Ofcourse it had to rain and also storm. I had a little radio which told me of a severe storm approaching. I put some extra stkes in and put rocks on top of them. I had dinner and retired to the tent. Around ten pm the first storm hit. It was lightning and thundering at the same time. I could feel the ground rumble with each strike. My tent shook and shook with the gusts of wind. My little REI half dome, three season tent withsood the worst. There were two more storms through out the night. I slept through them. Ha,I was tired. No storm was going to interupt my beauty nap. I am happy and full of excitement. Everyday there is a new adventure around every turn. There is a new face and stories to here. I dont want ever go home.
Date: 2003-04-26
From: Standing Indian

To: winding stair gap
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: broken clouds

I started out at betty creek gap this morn. There were some scouts who camped around the creek and a group from key west down the way. There was also a group from Georgia here. There was a judge a lwyer and a mechanic. Sounds like the begining of a joke. It wasnt. The lawyer had just had cancer surgery on his neck and was fixing to have radiation treatment done. His friends brought him out for some camping and fun before he had to go back into the hospital. I am trying to remember thier names but me and my short term memory. I hope the best for him. I climbed up Mt Albert this morning. Man was the last quarter mile a pain in the @#$! I made it though. When i got on top there were 30 scouts going up and down the fire tower. I took some quick pictures and headed on. I want to make it to Franklin tonight. I want a shower and a Mountain Dew. The rest of the day was basicly down hill. I was hiking around 3 miles an hour. I wanted to make it to town in tame to catch the Nascar race. My driver is in second place right now for the winston cup. I want to see the race and eat some pizza. I am going to stay at the Franklin Motel. It had everything I want. There is two cute girls hiking in. They are with this fella named curly dan and thier trailnames are rain and shine. They are quite the lookers. I am not here to pick up women. I only want to meet people right now. I dont want to burden myself with the petty problems of relationships. But? Who can pass up the opertunity to put down some cold ones with a couple of cuties? I thought so. I will stay here a couple of days and rest and eat. I am getting on down the trail. I have been 106.8 miles from springer. Kick @#$! The trail is long and demanding. I give it my all, my heart and soul. I still have to get my fix on the real world, or what some say, the other world. Which do I exists in. I will find my way back to each along the way.
Date: 2003-04-29
From: winding stair gap

To: wine spring
Miles today: 10.0

Im back on the trail today. It was tough my first mile, then I got my legs back and ,Boom I was hiking. I stopped at silars Bald. Ted a fella from Illinois was with me and he hiked all the way to the top. I took a picture of him up there. Im sure you cant see him. It was a pretty day. I made it to wine spring and had to stop. My first day back was kind of tough! I cooked dinner. I had some meat since it was my first day out again. I was full. I had a nice fire. I love the fire while I am camping. It gives you light, a way to cook and also is very mezmerizing. I can just stare for hours at it. There was this older fella bivwacing right close to me. Right after dark I heard some noises. It actually sounded like a bad atempt to sound like a dog. I hollared out at the fella and asked if he was alright. I replied yes. He told me the next morning that he barked every night before he went to bed. It is supose to scare off bears if they are around. I didnt tell him but his dog sounded like a poodle. If I was a bear I would of eat that poodle. A storm rolled all night. It stayed right over the other side of the mountain I was camping on. It was beatiful when the stars came out and there was lightning and thunder in the distance. I felt so small. I was just as small as the chipmunk that came up and tried to eat my snickers bar while I had my back turned. Little stinkers. The trail is so good. I love this stuff so much. I wish I could do this all the time.
Date: 2003-05-01
From: wine spring

To: Wesser
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: scattered clouds

I left around 10 am. this morn. I was the last to leave the shelter.The night before there were some rough storms. I survived! I waited to leave late because the trail was soggy. I new what I had to hike today. 11 to 12 miles. Some up's and some down's. I paced myself and soon found that I had caught the first person ahead of me. No sooner than that I passed my second hiker. Before the day was out I had passed everyone who had left the shelter before me. Now I assumed I was slow. I guess today I new I could get a shower, burger and a bunk. That in my head I hiked agressively all day. I knocked things out of my way, tumbled rocks and frightend wild life. I was a machine .I was the first to arrive at wesser,NOC.This is a pretty cool community. I had a killer bunk and woofed down this huge chili cheese burger. I met two hikers today from down in Texas. It was cougar and steve. Steve dosnt have a trail name yet but we are working on it. They are pretty intresting! Steve had been to college station before for school. I believe cougar had to. Cougar got intrested in this from the girl scouts. I guess the girls can do this stuff. I actually noticed that some of the better hikers are women. Now I said some! Mike hiked in. He was a gimp from Franklin. He really got his ankle workin. He hiked 20 miles today. Light pack. I met a fella called Happy Pappy. Happy was 64 and hitting the trail hard. He was so excited when we showed up with an 18 pack. We had good stories that night. I believe I am going to make this a two day stay. I am tired and ahead of schedule. I am doing alot better than I thought I would be doing. I am losing weight. Hell, I really dont have much body fat. I guess I need an extra cheese burger. I am getting close to the smokies. I am exstatic about it. Big thrill.
Date: 2003-05-03
From: NOC

To: sassafras gap shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It was tough gettin back on the trail. I had made some good friends. I hope that they catch up or are safe. This really has been an experince. I want to come back to the NOC. There is alot of neat stuff to do there. It is not real cheap. Maybe a night or two. They had huge cheeseburgers. Yummy! I passed a lot of people today. I hope they catch me. I really like tom and singe. They are some cool fellows. I will make it to my destination. I wish I could hike on past Damascus. Time stands still out here. It also flys. You look up and you blew half a day Bull shitting with people. Hiking is tough but i am getting better.
Date: 2003-05-04
From: Wesser

To: cody gap
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: few clouds

This morning I awoke to find papa john sleeping by the fire pit. Ofcourse the fire had long since went out. He was all curled up and shivering. There was a small tinge of cool in the air. The sun came up and Iset out with a few others. We all made it to the top of cheoah bald in about 30 to 45 min. The sun was slowly rising to the mid point in the sky. In the distance facing towards the smokies the condensation had formed into massive cloud banks right under some of the peaks. It was amazing. I truly know now why the smokies are called that. The sun was bright and lit the blue backed sky into a beautiful canvas coated with multi colars. took some pictures, but it is hard to capture such sights with a little camera. After I set off again, I was heading down on the other side of cheoah bald(Cheoah Pet) I run into a border collie. I bent over to pet him. He was real friendly and had gorgious coat on him. whenI stood up, There was a man standing there holding on to a leash attached to a Lama! Thats right a Lama! I took apicture of him to prove that he existed. The rest of the day as I told the story no one believed me. Well, look in the pictures,It's a Lama!Ha.Ha. I made it through some hard climbs this afternoon. Got free food and sodas at stecoah gap. COOL! I am camped a days hike from Fontanna Dam. I hear on the radio that there is supose to be rain and storms tomorrow. I hate hiking in the rain. Well I am here and I am going to love what ever mother nature throws at me. Bring it on baby.
Date: 2003-05-05
From: cody gap

To: Fontanna Dam Shelter
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

Well she did.I am sitting in the tent trying to get a break so I can put my gear up dry? I have ten miles to go to get to fontanna dam. I probally will stay in the shelter one night cause it is the hilton. I made it to cradle gap by 11 am. It was pouring. I dried out and got some lunch. Right after I left the bottom openned up. I was soaked. T beat that, soon as I got on top of a mountain peak it started storming. I had to jam my staff down into the ground so I had something to hold on to. I thought it was going to blow me off the top. Then the stinging rain hit. OUCH! That hurt. I finally got down to the shelter. It stopped raining of course. I had the whole shelter to myself. I hung my clothing up and staired at the lake for a long time. It was peaceful. After awhile a fella came in named ponch. It was after ponch on the tv show chips. We hit it of pretty good. Papa John came in. I almost thought he had hyperthermia at first. He had cut his finger and was just plain talking strange. I guess a good nights sleep and warm noodles will help??He is a bit strange. I hope he does good though. He is a good kid. He just needs to learn about people and life a bit. I guess we all need to do that.
Date: 2003-05-06
From: Fontanna Dam Shelter

To: Fontanna vllage
Miles today: 0.5

Ponch and I hiked about a half of a mile to the visitors center. It rainned a bit! We called the outfitters store and got a shuttle for only a buck. We split a room at the village. It is a pretty nice place. It seems as if it were out of the movie dirty dancing. I kept waiting for patrick swazie to start dancin around and say "Nobody puts baby in the corner." The buildings and the enviroment are about the same. Got a resupply from the post office. I just wish it would stop rainning. Maybe tomorrow.
Date: 2003-05-08
From: Fontanna Dam 

To: mollies ridge shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: broken clouds

The rain finally broke. We were able to set off around 9am. I hiked with or left with tom and singe. I of coarse took off. The first climb over shuckstack mt. was pretty tough. After that it eased up a little until the last half a mile. That was kick but. The smokies so far are all closed in by forrest. The deer came around my tent tonight. It is very lush. The dont seeums are bad. They are tearing my legs up.I met a very intresting fella, his name was tiamu. It stands for little bird. He hadd hiked the trail before but had the urge to do it again. There also was real cute hiker who came in late. Her name was buttercup. She is from conn. and a real cutie. I sat up around the fire and talked to her all night. We were the last ones to go to thier tents. I am sleeping in my tent due to the smallness and the smell of fire in the shelters.
Date: 2003-05-09
From: mollies ridge shelter

To: derricks Knob
Miles today: 12.0

Hiked good for the most part of the day. It was georgous. I went throgh spence field. It was so pretty. The cherry trees were blooming in these meadows. This was all on the way to Rock Top Mt. When i got there, I was by myself. I was alone for almost 30 min. I was able to reflect on my life and my heritage. I had lived in Tennessee all my life. I had sung rocky top at so many Tenn games. Buttercup showed up. She is a pretty neat girl. I really like her personality. She had never ever heard Rocky Top the song before. I wrote the words down for her and anyone else:Wish that I was on old rocky top,Down in the Tennessee hills.Ain't no smoggy smoke on rocky top,Ain't no telephone bills.Once I had a girl on rocky top,Half bear other half cat.Wild as a mink but sweet as soda pop,I still dream about that.Rocky Top, you'll always be,Home sweet home to me,Good ol' rocky top, rocky top Tennessee.Rocky Top Tennessee.Once two strangers climbed ol' rocky top,Lookin' for a moonshine still.Strangers ain't come down from rocky top,Reckon they never will.Corn won't grow at all on rocky top,Dirt's too rocky by far.That's why all the folks on rocky top,Get their corn from a jar.Rocky Top, you'll always be,Home sweet home to me,Good ol' rocky top, rocky top Tennessee.Rocky Top Tennessee.I've had years of cramped up city life,Trapped like a duck in a pen.All I know is it's a pity life,Can't be simple again.Rocky Top, you'll always be,Home sweet home to me,Good ol' rocky top, rocky top Tennessee.Rocky Top Tennessee.Ofcoarse there is a banjo, guitar and a wash board playing with it.We talked for awhile until tom and singe showed up. Everyone took pictures and had lunch. It was a highlight of my trip. The rest of the day was horrid. I went oveer these things called stealth Knobs. They were bastards. when i got to the shelter I had to eat two dinners. I was so hungry. Buttercup put her tent next to mine. We talked more. I would like to know her in the real world. I am very tired, i should sleep like a baby. The deer are back and the stars are out. Life is good.
Date: 2003-05-11
From: derricks Knob

To: Mt.Collins Shelter
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: light rain

It was rainning this morn. I was sitting in my tent waiting it out. All of a sudden I heard some scratching on my tent. It was Buttercup.She was hiking by. She is a good hiker. I wish I could keep up with her. I finally got all my gear packed up and was waiting in the shelter with tom. I heard on the radio that the rain was to move onn by noon and just be breezy. When I got to the top of Clingmons dome it cleared up. Kind of. I got some real good pictures. I took a north south east and west shot off the tower. It was gusty. Not breezy. The wind was blowing hard. I made it to Mt.collins shelter early. There was a couple of college girls who got out for the summer. They were enviroment majors. Very neat girls. I cant remember their names to save my life. Dah! Gypsy dave went in today. He was heading for Gatlinberg. His wife taught with my mom back in clarksville TN. Small world. By nights end there were alot of people at the shelter. Ofcoarse I was in my Tent. I plan on getting up early and movin on. I have Newfound Gap to cross. It is getting cold to. We made a big Fire, thanks to Tom. The trail in the smokieas has been tough. I still have a bit left. Met russell today. He is hiking through the smokies and then back. He is training for a hike this summer at Mt. Rainner. Wow! I still love this shit.
Date: 2003-05-13
From: Mt.Collins Shelter

To: Tri Corner Knob shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: clear sky

It was very cold last night. I had to pull out the poly pros and wrap up we had a good fire last night. It was just so dog gone windy. This shelter is out on a point and the wind is really kicking it. I met a girl last night named laughing bird. When I first met her she was laughing and kept on laughing. I spoke to her for quite awhile. She is from New York. Very intresting woman. Her laugh and her orea raidiates good feelings and happiness. She made me glad to just be there. I was ready to go pretty early. I made it to charlies bunyon first. Awesome.I climbed out on the first rock. It was to windy for the second. Then I hiked on past the sawteeth. It is a ridge that is steep on both sides. Killer. That afternoon i hiked down to a shelter to get water. It was a good hike. When I got there I ate lunch and had a cig. All of a sudden a guy walked up carrying an ar-15 with a silancer and night vision scope. I started to reach for my knife. Then I realized he was a ranger. We talked for a time. He was out hunting Hogs. They are a neusance in the park. They are trying to erradicate them. I had to hang my food tonight. No cables. I shared my ropes with laughing bird. What a positive attitude she has. I felt kind of bad when I first got to camp. She changed that mood. Cool. I am going to try a 15 mile day. Hardcore for me. The smokies have been great.
Date: 2003-05-14
From: Tri Corner Knob shelter

To: Davenport gap
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: light rain

I left out plum near the last person. I had some good trail. I was moving on. I averaged 3.5 miles an hour. I passed a couple of rangers riding horse back. Man I would love to do the whole park on horse back. I am hiking for now. Found a wonderful vista looking out at what I was hiking to. I sat out on a rock and had luch and reflected on my time in the smokies. I had had some tough times but had some real good ones to. I was heading down to mountain moma's store and hostel. Dont forget cash and the grill closes at 5pm eastern. I made it there by 4:30 pm. I had this huge greassy burger and a plate of fries. I also got a two liter of the new orange mountain dew. Man that stuff is good. I got a bunk for the night and a shower. Russell came in and curly dan. I was glad curly dan had made it. I had made a good friend. Tom showed up but didnt have cash and hiked on. Boy was he a bit mad. We made apack to not speak of mountain mommas, or now known as that place not to be spoken of! I had a real good time in the smokies. I hope to come back one day. I will definatly be back for family reunions in newport tennessee. I love the trail right now. I feel strong and in shape. I hope to stay this way.
Date: 2003-05-15
From: Davenport gap

To: ground hog creek shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

I have been on the trail exactly one month today. Yeah HAAAAAA! 245 miles now. Awesome! I have really impressed myself. Caught up with tom he is going to town to get food and he is catching up Russell set off back to the smokies then on to Mt Raniear. Good Luck! Found Laughing bird, she is hiking on. I think she is trying to catch buttercup. I wish I could keep up with both of them. Curly dan came in and the infamous papa john. It stormed pretty hard and then the storms started. Tom got caught oon top of a mountain and it started hailing. at least it wasnt to big of hail. I still am having a blast. I still have a couple of days till I get to Hot Springs. I am starting to get close to the end of this years hiking. We will see.
Date: 2003-05-16
From: ground hog creek shelter

To: roaring fork shelter
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The night was long and dark. There was spose to be a lunar eclipse last night. It was so cloudy from the storms and we were deep in the woods. There was no chance of seeing it. Hit the trail early and hiked pretty tough till around lunch. I hit Max patch at the perfect time. The flowers were all out in these fields of grass on this huge rolling mountain. The views were 360 and full of rising peaks, those that I had hiked and those to come. There was a group of college kids who had just got out for the summer. They had hiked up for the day. They actually were having a picnic at the moment I walked up to the bench marker. They were impressed with me and gladly donated huge amounts of food to the Boomhouser hike the trail fund. I saved some for curly dan and just laid back and took a nap. Bye the time I hiked on, I had been there for an hour and a half. Not two miles down the trail I passed a rattlesnake in the woods. I got a good picture of it. The shelter was nice. Mountain Hiking Momma's. It was nice. Had the same croud.Tom(plans to much),curly dan and a couple guys I didnt know. One had a dog and her name was molly. Prettist lttle thing. She was beagle,terrior mix. She would flash her eye lashes at you while she begged. Very well manored. Going to Hot Springs tomorrow. I have to wait till monday to get my package.Going to paddlers pub. I want a burger and a beer and I want to watch the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 2nd in winston cup points. This is a money race. Well back to the trail. It is hard but still having the time of my life.
Date: 2003-05-17
From: roaring fork shelter

To: Hot Spings
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: light rain

I hiked 15.5 miles today. The guys talked me into heading on in to hot springs. Man that was a long hike. It wasnt real hard trail but there were moments! I was hiking up to the Sunny Bank retreat(hostel) and guess who I saw? It was laughing bird and Buttercup. Man what a sight for sore eyes. They said that there was one bunk left in the hostel. I went in from the back door and there was a guy cooking over a stovee and the smell was awesome. They took me down to the basement. Last room. only 10 bucks anight. Sweat. I dropped my gear and went to paddlers pub and had a cold beer and a pizza. I know, no burger. I got to hang out with tom for awhile and then curly dan showed up. Then the bird and buttercup showed up. They are so cool. Laughing bird always has this personality thatt just makes you feel good. Buttercup is from conneticut. She is about the complete oppisite of me. I am country and have this strange view of life. She is a northern true in true. Our draws from each part of the country is obvious. Im a red neck and she is a Yankee, but I just dig the shit out of her. She always has a smile on her face. I think alot of us shoud try what they are doing. They must have figured it out. I finally went and got a shower and went back to paddlers. There was a blue grass band and I wanted Buttercup to here Rocky top. She had never heard it and I am not much of a singer unless alcahol induced and then I dont care that you can hear my horriable singing. I am glad I hiked on in. The people that you meet and bond with on the trail are priceless.