morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2012-04-23
From: Hemlock Hollows Hostel

To: Devils Fork 
Miles today: 20.0

Woke up early to have another delicious meal cooked by Haddie from the hostel. Eggs, sausage, potatoes! Mmmmm! We crushed some coffee and mountain dew to load up on caffeine for the long day. Our slack packing companions strolled on into breakfast in their PJs! We realized an early start was not in the cards so we settled in. The hostel said they would need us all to finish at the same time so we would be spending the day with our new friends, Bunny and Rusty. When our ride (taking us .7 mi to the trailhead) was ready, I opened the door and was stunned. It was snowing! Whaaaaaaaaaaat! I don't wanna go!! I sat in the cab of the pick up with Bunny while DO IT and Rusty froze to death in the bed. Bunny is from Florida and had never seen snow! We couldn't have asked for better hiking partners for the day. Bunny and I had a lot in common and I enjoyed talking to female hiker. Rusty was entertaining with his belly laugh at every little joke. The woods were quiet as the snow piled up. We passed three shelters full of hikers who decided to stay there all day. Their gear was wet and they were cold. Ice chunks would fall off of trees and smack us in the face. Since I alternate socks all day to prevent blisters, I kept my spare pair on my hands, which would still grown numb throughout the day. It started to get pretty scary out there, especially since we had planned for a big mileage day and had no gear in case something happened. At the lower elevations, the weather would be mild, but as soon as we started to climb, it would get ugly. DO IT and I actually opted for the safe route at one point. The trail split, one trail to went North to the "Exposed Ridgeline Trail" and the "Bad Weather Trail". One is the old AT (the safe one) and one is the new AT. Rusty and Bunny stuck to their purist ideals and insisted on the ridgeline. I played my highlights reel of bad decisions (body surfing the potomac, a 14er in January, etc.) and decided to play it safe. DO IT agreed. We met up with them shortly thereafter and they made it safely. The hostel wanted us to call them 4 miles out and let them know to head towards us with our packs. After consulting everyone about the weather for the night, I spent the last 4 miles making arrangements for us to go to Erwin tonight to get out of the elements. I was googling, talking on the phone and negotiating prices while I walked down the trail. I made the mistake of trying to talk down Haddie, remember she's from Jersey. When I met up with everyone at the end, I had the shuttle on the way and hotel rooms booked for the night. We took the Uncle Johnny's shuttle and met Grimm, who was strangely entertaining. He had a whole comedy routine going the entire time we were in the shuttle, which made for more contagious belly laughs from Rusty. It was a really good day. I enjoyed our hiking buddies, but they are headed back out to meet up with their frieds, The Incredibles.
Date: 2012-04-24
From: Devils Fork 

To: Holiday Inn
Miles today: 0.0

Zero Heros!This hotel is brimming with hikers in from the cold! We're not the only ones who skipped forward to Erwin! The town is (as usual) a lot less than I thought it would be. DO IT and I set out to see the sights at 9:00 this morning, in shorts. Jackassery. There is nothing to see, it is extremely cold and no one wants to pick up hikers here. We went to a few antique stores, where I jumped on a miniature trampoline, while DO IT sped up and then slowed down music on a recod player and cracked up laughing about it. I found my next selection of children's books which include: Old Yeller annnnd Are You There God, It's Me Margaret. I'm already halfway through the latter because it's just so darn entertaining. We ended up pretty far away from our hotel through a combination of walking a hitching before DO IT announced he wasn't walking another step. That put us in McDonalds, where we waited for Janet to come get us. Janet is a trail angel that drives a car named the Bounce Box, which follows thru hikers all the way up the trail and helps them out. We had lunch with her and two other hikers in town and she drove us back to the hotel. Now we're just arguing over what to watch on teevee, there are no murder mysteries or it wouldn't be such a battle. I have a suspicion that DO IT is secretly watching The Real Housewives while I'm on the hotel computer.
Date: 2012-04-25
From: Devils Fork 

To: Sam's Gap
Miles today: 8.0

Today was DO IT's last day on the trail. We went up to Devil's Fork and slack packed an easy 8 miles down to Sam's Gap. The morning started off cold and foggy, but by the end of the day, the sun had made an appearance. It was the perfect hike to leave the trail after. There were spectacular views and plenty of time to enjoy in the woods. Since we had such low mileage planned, we never felt rushed and probably hiker slower than we ever have. We had Janet pick us up and came back to the Holiday Inn to wait for Nick's arrival. It was kind of weird seeing him after 5 weeks. It made me feel kind of nervous and shy. I didn't expect that. We all went out for dinner at a Mexican place and then went to Walmart because I've been wanting a watch. So I buy this Timex watch for about $15 and tell them I don't need anything but the watch so they can throw all the packaging away. So the cashier gets a little pushy, telling me I need the manual. "I think I can figure it out", I say. When I came back for the manual 5 minutes later, she had it out and ready for me. Story of my life...Anywho, we got all our gear set to go out tomorrow. Nick brought all my random gear from home for me to go through and I resupplied on a bunch of small things like wet wipes, tylenol, etc. HE brought one random box that had someone else's gear in it that he got in the mail from Mountain Crossings. It had GOOD gear in it! I'm working on tracking the owner down, his name was on some stuff in the box so he should be able to get it from the hotel when he passes through Erwin.
Date: 2012-04-26
From: Sam's Gap

To: Inside!
Miles today: 0.0

This rain is so lamethat I'm not making any progressin going to Maine.Planned to hike out today, but the weather was so bad that we couldn't leave! To quote Middleberry, "No one with a brain went hiking today". We went to breakfast before going up the mountain and it was so dark out that it looked like the sun had already set. We watched lightening light up the sky and decided to go right back to the hotel and hike out tomorrow. Somewhere in all those shenanigans, Nick left his hiking boots in the car as DO IT drove back to Baltimore. Typical! We realized it when DO IT was somewhere around Shenandoah and rerouted him to Staples to have them sent down here ASAP. We should get them Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, Nick's going to go to Walmart and get some running shoes to wear and hopefully that won't mess his feet up. But chances are, it won't be comfortable. I know allllll about wearing the wrong shoes while hiking. I don't want Nick to become Mr. Blisters.Spent the entire day watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta since DO IT's gone and I easily won the remote battle with Nick. I had some chips and dip in remembrance of DO IT, I even wiped my greasy chip hands on the bed sheets in his honor. I think Nick is alarmed by my new eating habits. He started to read the label on dip at the store (which was actually a gas station BTW) and I said, "Oh no, I don't do that anymore. Wanna get hotdogs? Or do you need a soda? Cause I'm getting one." Haha.
Date: 2012-04-27
From: Sam's Gap

To: Bald Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 8.0

Had a little difficulty getting back on the trail in the morning. Janet was super bsuy so we didn't start hiking until after 11:00. Just as predicted, Nick maniclly charged up the mountain, leaving me in the dust (or mud rather). But he slowed down and ended up keeping pace with me eventually. The hike was beautiful with 360 degree views on Big Bald. I'm assuming its what Max Patch would have looked like sans fog. We had lunch up there and planned to walk on to do about 13 for the day. Butttt my plans always fall through and when we saw the shelter we decided to stay. You see, I'm trying to act like a lady when Nicks around... A little less crouching tiger and a little more... Uh, deodorant. So we pulled an 8 miler and celebrated the privy. Nick was really excited to sleep in our new 2 person tent that he got annnd there was a hole in the bottom, which made me crack up laughing and made him furious. There were only 3 other people camping there so it was a quiet night.
Date: 2012-04-28
From: Bald Mtn Shelter

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 6.0
Weather: broken clouds

We hit the trail pretty early this morning, hiking just after 8 am. We hiked 6 mi to the road crossing at Spivey Gap where we planned to have Nick call Janet and go into town to get his boots from the mail and get us settled at the hostel witha ride to the bluegrass festival. While he was doing that, I was supposed to slack the 11 remaining miles to the hostel. Of course that did not happen. At all. Cause it never does. We had no cell service so Janet wasn't an option and a car went by every 200 years so I didn't wanna leave nick with my pack until he had a ride and as time went by, I lost the time I wouldneed to hike that far. So we hitched together and rode into the hostel around 2:00. Grimm checked us in with his usual stand up routine. We sat around chatting with hikers and then went over to a hiker feed that a local church put together. They had burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad and dessert! They even had granola and stuff for a resupply. Glory be!! They also drove Nick to pick up his mail.I talked to a woman for a while about hiking while female, my favorite thing to compalin about. I met the preacher who was hilarious! I finally found someone who understood my dry, cynical sense of humor. He introduced us to his Godson, who is doing this new phenomenon called couching. He's traveling North via hitchhiking and sleeping on random people's couches. He looks for versatile, mutifaceted couched like futons for a challenge. He said he's run into some crazy stuff, much like thru hiking. Tyhis is apparently some new fad young people are doing. Sounds good to me, like lazy thru hiking, which is what I do anyway. You just stay with strangers instead of at $100 hotels. Hmmm. So after that we went back to Johnnys where Grim hooked us up with a cabin that has a tiny teevee and get this... A VHS player! We watched Twister (after rewinding the tape. HaH). Janet called us and offered to bring us down to the bluegrass festival so we went there next. There are little bands set up everywhere in this beautiful place. It smells like honeysuckles and there are newborn baby ducks. Oh and the sheriff is playing a banjo in one of the groups. I had about a gallon on lemonade and just sat in the grass listenong to music. Life is good today
Date: 2012-04-29
From: Spivey Gap

To: Erwin, TN
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: broken clouds

Nick and I decided to slack pack the last few miles into Erwin. I honestly considered skipping it but I'm glad I didn't. As we waited for the shuttle, we talked to a hiker from Australia. He flew into the ATL and walked around the city asking for directions to the appalachian trail! He said he's not into logistics and planning so he thought he'd just figure it out when he got to Atlanta. He said he asked a group of "gangsters wearing colors" and said "Good day mates! Which way is the Appalachian Trail?" Hahahaha.Anywho it was an easy slack. A lot of downhill with beautiful voews of the Nolichuky River going into Erwin. We got back to Johnnys around 2:00 which made for an easy evening. We took the shuttle into town for Mexican food and Margaritas! We had a pitcher which was SIX margaitas! What was I thinking... Ran into the old crew we hiked with in the Smokies, Cackles and the Twisted Sisters. Everyone asked about Do IT.
Date: 2012-04-30
From: Erwin, TN

To: Beauty Spot Gap
Miles today: 13.0

Good news. I'm finally both carrying my pack and sleeping outside. Plus it rained today and I was on a road and a car drove by and I resisted all temptations to throw myself on their hood and demand a ride to a hotel. Good hike today. It started out disgustingly hot, I was reeeally sweaty. We followed a stream for a while going up, up and up, out of Erwin FOREVER. Took an hour long break around 1:00 to get out of the sun. Also Nick's getting sick. He coughs up nasty stuff all day and night, so that's gross. I cleaned up my act for him and now he's being gross. Hmph. So anyway lots of up today. THENNN I saw a bear! It was a baby! We were on a ridge and he was down in the valley below us and ran up the other side, onto the trail. We could see him the whole time, but I couldn't get a decent picture. It was really cool. I can't believe I already saw TWO bears! Shortly after that it started to rain. A lot. And then it hailed, because it always does. Nick did not like the rain. Once it cleared up he had a whole new respecty for the amount of time I've spent out here. We climbed up Beauty Spot, a huge bald with spectacular views. We were walking across the top and the rain had stopped, but there was still lightening, when one of the Rainwaters started running toward us holding a plate of chicken! They have decided to do an assisted thru hike with their car and were grilling chicken in the parking lot. So I ate a chicken breast while I walked, loving the magic. we set up camp just after the bald near a spring. Nick says he's cooking a delicious feast but I know its just crapcous, previously known as cousous, with nasty TVP. I want CANDY for dinner.
Date: 2012-05-01
From: Beauty Spot Gap

To: OMG Erwin Again
Miles today: 0.0

So Nick spent the night coughing up disgusting things, which was rather unpleasant for me in our 2x4 tent. After a night of zero sleep, we decided we should seek medical attention before we got too far out of town. We called Janet and she said shed be right up. We packed up camp and I did the unthinkable, hiked southbound! I just had to see that big ole bald again! Beauty Spot was a sight in the morning!!! I rushed back North to see Janet pulling up. Then she wanted to drive up Beauty Spot bc she had to see it in the morning! She said its a popular place for the locals, and that half of Unicoi County was concieved there. So we got into town and Janet took us to an urgent care center. They were super nice to us! Very hiker friendly. They gave us Cokes and talked to us about hiking. I heard them tell the doctor, "we've got a congested hiker in room 1". Haha. So he said Nick has Bronchitis and Siniitis. He gave him prescriptions for a decongestant, antibiotics and cough syrup (which I will be abusing later to sleep). Of course now we need to navigate to a pharmacy and a hotel, not easy when you're hoofing it! We did get two rides from random people who saw us walking by though! I'm loving these Erwinians! Oh and I sat in amassage chair for a while at the Walgreens. A woman walked by and said that I shouldn't be feeling that visibly good in public. Oops! So we ended up back at the Holiday Inn to get some R and R. I easily gained control of the remote and settled in.
Date: 2012-05-02
From: Beauty Spot Gap

To: Clyde Smith Shelter
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: broken clouds

What a day!! Got a bit of a late start, around 10:30 we started walking. The climb up Unaka Mountain kicked my ass!! The top was spectacular though, all Red Spruce trees. I don't even know what happened next. I was tired, I was sore, my feet hurt, my back hurt. I walked, I sat, I laid down. I felt sorry for myself a lot. It was honestly a really hard day. And some mean section hikers were kind enough to inform me that tomorrows climb up Roan Mountain makes Unaka look like a hill. So that was nice. But he did give me some Rice that I put in my tuna burrito with mayo. They'll be selling it at Chipotle next week I'm sure. Anyway, now I'm in my tent, feeling sorry for myself some more and trying to steal all of Nicks cough syrup to drown my sorrows. Goodnight.
Date: 2012-05-03
From: Clyde Smith Shelter

To: Carver's Gap
Miles today: 8.0

Started the day anxious about climbing Roan Mountain. We had some serious game faces on. The whole day was about Roan. Oh and I forgot to write about some weird things going on with my body. Nick and I seem to have bed bug bites all over our arms and legs from Uncle Johnny's Hostel, and I have a weird rash on my back and my hiney. I've been putting Cortisone cream on the bed bug bites cause the itch like crazy. Luckily, our sleeping bags don't seem to be carrying them since we have no new bites. So we plan this whole crazy day around Roan. We get to the bottom of it and we just destroy all high calorie food that we can. We get all pumped up, calling the mountain names, and we start the climb. An hour and a half later we reach what looks like a summit. We really thought we were awesome. That mountain wasn't beep! Haha! We see some southbounders that we know who were slacking that day and ask them how far to the shelter thats on the top of the mountain. They look at us incredulously and say, "You think this is Roan Mountain?? You're not even on the right hill yet! You're like 4 miles away. Hahah". I immediately tried to throw myself off the nearest cliff.. Whaaaaaat. They show us where we are on the map and we've gone 2 miles in an hour and a half. We normally walk 20 minute miles. Wow. Roan don't play. Once I stopped feeling sorry for myself, we started walking again. It took about another hour and a half to get to the top. I was covered in sweat, out of breath and out of water. Yikes. Then the trail turned to gravel with a material under the gravel to hold it in place. And we were hiking through a soft pine forrest. Why oh why did they put gravel EVERYWHERE!? The descent sucked. Gravel is a pain to hike through, we were stumbling all over the place, rolling ankles at every step. We finally made it all the way down and were in Carver's Gap where there is a parking lot, where intelligent people can DRIVE up the mountain. We talked to some section hikers who gave us a box of those Little Debbies brownies. Yummmm! We looked at the map and realized that we were going too fast since we were meeting Nick's family on Saturday. So we decided to climb up the next bald and camp on top so we could watch the sun go down over Roan that night. The bald made for some beautiful camping, but it was so not practical! Camping on a bald means wind (we were at 5,800 feet above sea level), no place to cook since it's all dry, no water and no where to go to the bathroom. I did squat on the bald and some day hikers started giggling. I didn't even realize they could see me from a mile across the damn thing! But of course the bald is wide open with clear visibility, that's why it's so pretty. Nick and I killed some cough syrup (I'm now completely sick as well) and missed the sunset since we were asleep so early. We also refused to eat crapcous another night so we had protein shakes and that whole box of brownies for dinner. Yumm!
Date: 2012-05-04
From: Carver's Gap

To: US 19 Newland, NC
Miles today: 14.0

Had a wonderful night on the bald. The wind actually felt really good since it had been so hot. I didn't sleep much since there was no where to hang a bear bag I kept worrying about the food all night. Then in the morning, since we were out in the open, I woke up to the sound of about 50 kids on a field trip walking through our camp. Yay.We planned to do a light day and maybe camp at Overmountain Shelter, which is this old red barn converted to an AT shelter. It's right off a trail that's 170 miles long and was traveled in the Revolutionary War, called the Victory Trail. Pretty neat stuff. So we went to the barn and ate the last of our lunch food, tuna with mayo. We looked at the map and decided that if we really started moving we could make it to town before dark and have a delicious dinner. If that didn't motivate us enough, we found a bottle of Bourbon that someone had left there and had some celebratory drinks in the barn before we started moving. The trail was really weird after that. We went up a bald called Little Hump and could see the trail go up the next bald, Hump Mountain. But of course, we first had to go back down and into the woods for a while, before going back on the bald and alllll the way up to the top. The views were spectacular! It was an area called the Roan Highlands and I would for sure go back there. You had 360 degree views for miles and miles. But the climb was NOT fun. After that, we had about 5 miles of downhill walking. There were huge, unstable rocks everywhere so it took a long time to go down. We were getting a little nuts at the end and our bodies were feeling it. Nick finally started to get sore, his heel and ankle were bothering him and my feet were just aching. Lots of work for the little people inside of me to do tonight. We got to the road crossing (hooray!) and hitched into town. We got a ride from a hiker in a pick up truck who only had room in the cab for us and our packs. It was an uncomfortable ride but I was so greatful to be off my feet!We got a room at the Lawn-something Motel, which is actually really nice. We had giant steaks for dinner with baked potatoes! MMMM!! Couldn't even walk after eating I was so sore. My legs started to feel like they were just going to break in half!
Date: 2012-05-05
From: US 19 Newland, NC

To: No where
Miles today: 0.0

Had top zero since we were waiting for Nick's family to come down and bring him back home. I spent the day doing my chores, laundry and resupply. I walked to the laundromat and then to the grocery store. It was fun doing a resupply that was only for me. I got pop tarts for breakfast, instead of oatmeal. I got the s'mores kind!! For lunch I did tortillas and peanut butter. For dinners I did instant mashed potatos and macaroni and cheese. I got bacon bits, a bottle of squeeze butter and dehydrated milk to make everything more fatty. In the checkout line, the cashier asked if I needed help bringing my bags out. I laughed and asked if she intended to carry them all the way back to the hotel. The guy in line behind me asked if I was a hiker and offered me a ride. I hesitated. This would be my first solo ride with a stranger. He looked normal enough so I agreed. Once in the car, he cautioned me that this area is not hiker friendly and that I should be extremely cautious over the next 20 miles and keep my weapon handy. Lovely. Later on that day Nick's Mom, Laurie and little brother, Alex came to see us. They brought Mackie!! I was so excited to reunite with my pup!! When Mack got out of the car, I reached out for him and he barked at me and hid behind Laurie and Alex. Tears flooded my eyes! He was acting like he didn't know me and it made my heart hurt. I took him for a walk and loved on him as much as he would let me but it was slow going. We went out for dinner to celebrate Cinco De Mayo at a Mexican Restaurant that night. It was really fun to talk to Laurie and Alex about what was going on at home. I just wanted to absorb as much new information as possible so I would have things to think about while hiking. I showed Alex my long, manly leg hair and he was disgusted. Don't men know that women normally go as long as they can without shaving?? Especially in the winter! I brought Mackie out my leftovers and he suddenly remembered that he loves me. I randomly decided that he should hike with me some so that we can reconnect, so we went to the dollar store for a leash, collar and dog food. I got a 5 pound dog food bag and grimmaced at the thought of carrying all that weight. I also still have Nick's 2 person tent and would have to carry it all since I sent my light one back home with DO IT. This would not be easy...