morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-03-08
From: Neel's Gap

To: Poplar Stamp Gap
Miles today: 13.0

Today started off pretty slow we hung out at neel's gap till around 9. While Eli was sitting at the overlook next to mountain crossings this lawyer came up and gave him a pocket constitution. As I'm writing this he still has it so our friend shaggy have him the trail name the patriot. With our new found love of country we set off, the day started out with tough climbs but scenic views. At Tesnatti gap we ran into some more trail magic. I soon regretted the root beer and rice Krispy treat though because the climb out of the other side was pretty brutal. Shaggy, who we hiked with all day, cut his hand on his poles on the way up so it gave us a nice excuse for a break at the top. We knew we didn't have to hike as far today, so we took our time and stopped at every overlook. None of us thought that Georgia would be this nice! I think we might have spoke too soon because the last 5 miles of our day was a monotonous climb on an old fire road. We camped that night at poplar stamp gap with sparky and shaggy. We had an a great fire and good times! Everyone we have talked to is dreading the 3 days of rain that is forecasted for Thursday... We are going to try and wake up early tomorrow and get in 16-17 miles if we can. Hiawassie Georgia, here we come!
Date: 2016-03-09
From: Poplar Stamp Gap

To: trey mountain shelter 
Miles today: 15.0

We woke up this morning and said goodbye to our camp mates sparky and vagabundo (spelling?). We had planned to hike 15 miles to trey mountain shelter, and stop and pick up a package in hiawassie Georgia, which is 13 miles west of the trail. The first nine miles to Unicoi gap flew by. The trail seemed to be mostly flat so we made it to the gap by 11:30. We sat down by other thru hikers, and thought about how we were going to get into town. Before we could stick our thumbs out several day hikers came over and asked if we needed a ride into town. Dave and Robin Hering showed us some REAL trail Magic by taking us right to the post office in town. Not to mention they help maintain the Section of trail we just walked! Thanks guys for everything you do! When we got to the post office we collected our package and charged our phones. While we were loading out packs with food a man came in and asked if we needed a ride. Long story short we made back to the trail in under and hour and we didn't have to stick our thumbs out once! I wish hitchhiking could always be that easy! With heavy packs the ensuing climb up from Unicoi and up trey mountain was difficult. It was about 3,000 feet of elevation gain. We hiked the remaining miles to camp with David (das machine) (he's German). His name is das machine because he hikes really fast and never stops... So that was fun trying to keep up with him. We made it to camp to find all of our trail friends! We talked and told stories and went to bed at hiker midnight (7:30 pm). The weather was absolutely perfect today and we are worried because the weather has been too good for us lately. Hopefully this weekends storms won't be as bad as predicted. Off to plum tree shelter tomorrow!
Date: 2016-03-10
From: tray mountain shelter 

To: plum orchard shelter
Miles today: 15.5

I woke up this morning to a splash on my face. The rain was coming in sideways through our door, unfortunately the weather forecast and the previous night's starry sky had betrayed us. I zipped up the cover to the door,but forgot to move my boots. When We finally gathered the courage to leave the tent my shoes, filter, and clothes dry bag were very wet. Breaking camp was interesting. It sucks having the tent get muddy and wet, and then stuffing it into a foot long sack. Needless to say everything was muddy when we pulled out the tent tonight. Anyways when we did hit the trail we descended for an hour or so in thick fog. I couldn't help but wonder what sights we were missing as we trudged along. The next big climb was up to Kelly's knob was grueling, especially in rain gear. When we got to the top we were rewarded with clouds and a three mile downhill to dicks gap. We made it to dicks gap around 12. I think when it is foggy we walk faster. At dicks gap we checked out the top of Georgia hostel. It's a cool place where we dropped off our trash, but most importantly got free soda. After another tough climb we made it into plum orchard shelter around 430. We made red beans and rice and played our first cards of the trip with das machine, outlaw, and hulk. We are beginning to find walking partners who we get along with and go a similar pace. I've been told Unicoi to dicks gap is the toughest section in Georgia, and I'd have to agree. Tomorrow we climb standing Indian mtn and go into North Carolina so it should be exciting!
Date: 2016-03-11
From: plum orchard shelter

To: beech gap
Miles today: 16.6

We woke up this morning to a nice sunrise. Neither words or pictures can truly do it justice. We headed toward beech gap which was about 15 miles away. We thought this would be easy considering we had been hiking about that much mileage each day. Wow it was hard! We had several major climbs that stuck it to our legs. Within the first four miles we reached the North Carolina and Georgia border, it is nice to see progress in this form. We took a break and snapped some pictures with the sign. The rest of the day was full of high peaks and nice views! Standing Indian mountain was the tallest peak, but the 1,500 foot elevation gain was over 2 miles so the grade of the trail really wasn't that bad. The thing that made it difficult was that das machine and Eli were so competitive with each other that we basically ran up the mountain.... After running up, we walked 2 miles back down to find the campsite. We were all quite relieved to sit down and put out crocs on! It was honestly one of the harder days on trail, but spirits are still high because we have dodged all the rain. Tomorrow we are planning on hiking 16 miles to rock gap shelter, and we are hoping for some weekend trail magic !
Date: 2016-03-12
From: beech gap

To: rock gap shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Well the rain held off for another day ! Although it wasn't sunny, it was definitely clear enough to see the beautiful views the mountains had to offer. Today was a nice hike because it was mostly flat or downhill.... Imagine that. We hiked 10 miles before 12:30, das machine and Eli tend to race when out front. We had one of the most amazing sections of trail today up mount albert. This section of trail uses natural rock formations as stairs. The iconic white blaze is tagged on the rock ! At the top of the climb we were rewarded with epic views, created by an old fire tower. This part of the trail also marked the 100 miles mark ! We hiked the remaining 6 miles to shelter where we found many other thru hikers, probably around 20? The shelter was full so we found a small campsite close by. Most of the other hikers are taking a zero day in Franklin, NC tomorrow, but we have elected to hike through the, seemingly imminent, rain to wayah bald! We are hoping to meet my girlfriend Courtney at winding stairs gap with food and some company ! We played spades tonight with some new friends and turned in early ! Looking forward to another great day on the trail tomorrow !
Date: 2016-03-13
From: rock gap shelter 

To: wayah bald 
Miles today: 15.5

The anticipation was killing me last night I almost couldn't sleep. When you are in the trail for so long (it seems like it has been forever) you look forward to strange things. Seeing signs, meeting old friends, and highway crossings are things we all get pumped about. We met my girlfriend Courtney at winding stairs gap around 10 ! It was hard get out of the tent this morning because it was daylight savings and it was raining. Stuffing a wet tent into my backpack makes me cringe every time, but I think it will dry out tonight, as the weather channel says it will not rain. We came across a cooler full of empty beer and Coke cans, we were just a little too late for the trail magic . It seemed like we climbed forever to reach wayah bald! It was weird because the trail came out onto a paved greenway for about a quarter of a mile, we thought we were lost. When we got to the fire tower, we were greeted by many day hikers, it was a great view ! Eli was given a pack of deer jerky and cheese ! It hit the spot ! We made it to wayah bald shelter and pitched our tent. Eli elected to sleep in the shelter, which apparently had some mice encounters in the middle of the night. We camped with about 20 other hikers and talked well after hiker midnight. We wrongfully brought up the real food... The thought of burgers at NOC made us crazy. Can't wait to make it to NOC tomorrow to see our dad, and get some warm food and a shower !
Date: 2016-03-14
From: wayah bald shelter

To: NOC
Miles today: 16.5

Today the excitement to get to NOC was real. We woke up early to get to Nantahala Outdoor Center before the thunderstorms forecasted for later in the day. We woke up early and das machine was ready to roll. We followed him and knocked out the first 10 miles to Weser bald in 5 hours. At Wessex bald we got a beautiful view of the mountains and rested our legs for the 6 mile descent to NOC. Dad machine dictated the pace so we managed to do this leg in a couple hours. Dad was coming at 4 to pick us up so we killed some time by shopping around in the store and chatting with hikers. In the end we were all glad when dad got here and we could get our first real food in 9 days. We went up to Hilda's that night. We showered and washed our clothes which felt spectacular. Hilda was very nice and made us cookies. Looking forward to rovers end for breakfast!
Date: 2016-03-15
From: NOC

To: Brown fork gap shelter
Miles today: 15.8
Weather: clear sky

Last night we didn't have to hang a bear bag for the first time in a while. It was a nice feeling to have a totally flat area to sleep on and lights in the morning when it was dark. Thanks to my dad Jason (honorary trail name backtrack) for the place to stay, 2 warm meals, and of course all the support throughout our trip ! After a huge breakfast at rivers end we set off on what was the longest climb we had yet to encounter. My dad decided to park at stecoah gap and meet us at cheoah bald, so we had the option to slack pack The 8 mile climb. Slack pack is when you take most of the weight out of your pack so you're only carrying water and food, it makes hiking much easier when your pack is this light. Of course our friend David (das machine) thought that would be cheating so he wanted to carry his whole weight. Eli couldn't be outdone by David and I couldn't be outdone by Eli so we ended up carrying everything..... We would soon regret that. The climb out of the nantahala outdoor center was almost 8 miles up to cheoah bald ! The weather was beautiful, but the temperature was around 70 degrees, we sweated a lot climbing up the mountain. The views at cheoah bald were well worth it though, it was possibly one of my favorite places thus far. We hung out for an hour at the top and soaked up some rays waiting for my dad to arrive. We headed down the mountain a mile or so before we ran into my dad. He had walked several miles down an old road before realizing he was not on the AT, hence the name backtrack. The next miles to stecoah gap were continuously up and down and really took a toll on our legs and feet. Tired, thirsty, and exhausted we finally reached the gap. We were wary of the remaining 2.5 miles which looked to be all up hill to the shelter. Luckily we ran into Bob (aka quest) who had brought apples to help get us up the mountain. Thanks Bob, we couldn't have done it without you ! The next bit to camp was every bit as steep as it looked on the map. It was definitely the longest 2.5 miles of my life. We finally made it to camp around 6:30 to find some familiar faces and a big tasty dinner ! Looking back, this was definitely the most difficult day on the trail thus far, and a huge shoutout to the group (Eli, chase, David, Courtney) for the hard work and determination! We are going to sleep well tonight, and head up to Fontana dam in the morning !
Date: 2016-03-16
From: Brown fork gap shelter

To: Fontana Dam
Miles today: 11.0

Today we got a later start in anticipation of only having 11 miles to cover, before we met our mom at 2 at Fontana. When we set out we had good views of Fontana and the surrounding areas early on. We ran into some serious trail magic. Vice hooked us up with some Coke and hot dogs (one of the things I crave most). Later on in the day it turned into a slow grind. One of the hardest parts was being able to see the dam for the last 5 miles. David and I finished at 145 right when Paxton and mom pulled up. 30 minutes later Zack, Chase, and Courtney made it down the hill. The best part of the day though was yet to come. Paxton and my mom (aka mountain momma and sweaters) drove us back to Candy's (honorary trail name candygram) cabin. When we got to the house we got to go to Tina Wesson's (honorary trail name the survivor) tiki lounge. We were treated to Brats, Salmon, chili, and various beverages. We also were able to get our permits printed for the smokies. After that we went to sleep on real beds for the first time since the trip started. We even got to shower ! Tomorrow we climb into the Smokies. This was honestly the best trail magic ever ! Thanks to everyone that made it possible ! It
Date: 2016-03-17
From: Fontana Dam

To: spence field shelter 
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: clear sky

So this morning I woke up in a bed ! Wow it was amazing ! Thanks again to candygram for putting the crew the crew up. It truly was the best trail magic yet ! My mom filled our stomachs with pancakes and sausage early this morning before driving to the trail ! We knew we would need a lot of fuel to make the climb into the smokies and all the way to spence field shelter (about 18 miles). The first 6 miles were straight uphill, but it honestly wasn't as bad as we expected. The previous climb out of NOC prepared us well ! We were rewarded for our efforts with a great view from the shuckstack fire tower. Eli and I have done so much hiking in the smokies over the years, so it was cool to be on a familiar part of the trail. We had a nice view of cades cove throughout the day. Once we got on top, we stayed on the ridge line with relatively small ups and downs. We were all so happy to make it to the shelter around 5. Our legs and feet were killing us.... Tomorrow we are hitting Rocky too early and trying to make it 19 miles to dodge some predicted snow on Sunday. Anyone from Knoxville that wants to meet us for a day is more than welcome ! This is the closest we will be to home for a while ! Looking forward to another day of sunny skies and tall mountains tomorrow !
Date: 2016-03-18
From: spence field shelter 

To: mount collins 
Miles today: 19.0

Before we went to bed last night we asked our friend Carl the ridge runner which way people face their sleeping pads when in a shelter. Carl said: "well would you rather a bear drag you out by your head or by your feet?" We unanimously decided that feet was the correct answer. We slept surprisingly well despite that disturbing image. We woke up at 6 in order to get an early start on our long trek towards mount Collins shelter (19 miles away). We got walking around 7:30 with our headlamps, and we made it to the peak of rocky top right as the sun came over clingman's dome! Pictures could not do the seen justice, and words cannot describe how the group felt. It was a truly beautiful moment that you wish could last forever! The ensuing miles followed the ridge line of the mountains, and we enjoyed more spectacular views. With blue bird skies and 65 degree weather we couldn't help but to stop and enjoy the best views and balds the smokies had to offer. After seeing clingman's dome we walked another 4 miles to camp at mount Collins shelter. The shelter was full of spring breakers from Maryland so we had to sleep outside, but they promised they promised to give us their food tomorrow at newfound gap so it is all good ! Haha it was a really long day and we are all tired, but it has by far been the best day on the trail. The weather and sights were just too good ! Looking forward to a shorter day tomorrow to peck's shelter! Be sure to check to photo gallery we are going to be uploading pictures soon !
Date: 2016-03-19
From: mount collins

To: pecks corner shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: light rain

Woke up at 6:40 today to a totally deserted campsite. The night before, over a heated game of Mao, some spring breakers from the university of Maryland promised us their leftover food if we made it to newfound gap before they left. Seeing that they had already left we, quickly packed our stuff, and sprinted out the camp. Unfortunately Atticus (formerly das machine) and I dropped spidey and Goose (Zack) pretty early on. That left the job up to just David and me. The miles flew by, but as we approached the gap I realized one problem. In my haste I had forgotten to take my morning privy visit, as I stopped to relieve myself, the torch fell to the one man who could save us... Das machine (sorry David). By the time I finished things up Goose and spidey had met up with me so we had a nice stroll to the gap. When we got there we were overjoyed to see a white sprinter van with Maryland tags, Atticus, and a whole passel of college girls. We got Hershey's, Nutella, instant eggs, and all sorts of other goodies. Immediately after, we met mountain momma and Godspeed who hooked us up with some killer trail magic. Including, but not limited to, sandwiches, Fritos, Swiss rolls, and soft drinks. After that, another ex thru hiker gave us some mtn dew, and whazo gave us some sausage since he was going into town. Needless to say I didn't finish all my lunch. We set off from newfound gap, and were met with intermittent rain, big spruces, and big views. At ice water springs we saw a couple fox squirrels and deer. At first I thought it was cool they were so comfortable with humans, but then I realized they had most likely been fed, and it was a little depressing. Charlie's bunion was incredible. The whole day reminded me a lot of the PNW because there were these sprawling mountains covered in mist and massive evergreens. Atticus and I rolled into Peck's shelter around 2:30. It was perfect timing for two reasons: one Atticus decided not to drink any water after newfound gap so he almost passed out, and two a huge rain cloud came in right when we sat down. Since we knew we had an easy day tomorrow we took it easy and played lots of cards. Atticus and I beat spidey and goose three times. Red beans and rice turned out to be not that good. As I am writing this there is a bit of drama in the shelter, a mouse has crawled on goose's hand twice. So if you don't see another blog post I might've been carried of by mice and eaten. All in all, these last couple of days have been my favorite so far, a ton of cool people, the most cards of the trip, but, most importantly I saw a lot of the smokies I'd written of before. It all turned out to be way more beautiful than I could've imagined and I'm pretty stoked on life right now.
Date: 2016-03-20
From: pecks corner shelter

To: Cosby Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.9
Weather: overcast clouds

We had this day marked on the schedule for a while because it was our shortest mileage (so far) to Cosby Knob Shelter. We could sleep in a little bit and still make it to the shelter at a good time. Of course none of us slept past 7.... Nevertheless we hung out and waited for most of the crowd to clear out of the shelter before packing out stuff up. The snow that was predicted to happen that night started a little early, probably around 11. Because most of our walk was downhill we got quite cold and ended up running most of the way to camp. Wind beaten and cold we arrived around 2 at the shelter. The fireplace still had a small fire burning and someone had left a whole thing of hot chocolate and coffee mix for the hikers ! We quickly set up our stuff and got in our sleeping bags ! We played, what seemed like, hours of cards before someone else finally showed up. In the end it turned out to be a full shelter ! Most were spring cold spring breakers. This one group from Elon university showed up and made the most extravagant dinner ever.There had to be 4 courses to this meal. It made our salmon and pasta meal much less appetizing. The snow is coming down hard outside, and I can't wait to see how much we end up getting. Looking forward to seeing my mom tomorrow and getting some pizza !
Date: 2016-03-21
From: Cosby Knob Shelter

To: Painter Branch
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: clear sky

Woke up this morning to a beautiful 4 inches of snow. We knew we were meeting mom 9 miles away at pigeon river bridge, so we had a lazy morning. For some reason I volunteered to get the bear bag while everyone else stayed warm in their sleeping bag. I made the mistake of going in my crocs so I started the day with very wet feet. The spring breakers from Elon were back at it again with French toast and brownies for breakfast, so my protein shake seemed even more unappetizing than usual. When we finally left we were all awe struck by the glistening snow and frost. We hiked for about three miles and then made it to Mt. Cammerer. We hung out there for a while and caught up on blogging and eating. The past couple of days I've felt my appetite rise with the amount of calories I've been burning to stay warm. It was bittersweet when we finally descended from Cammerer, I was warming up but the snow was melting. We arrived at the bridge a little early and cleaned off in the nearby creek, filtered water, and dried clothes. Unfortunately, Atticus's gators dug into his feet funny on the downhill so he's been nursing his foot ever since. When mom got there we gorged ourselves on pizza, ginger beer, and brownies. It was delicious and much appreciated by everybody. We shared some of our spoils with a thru hiker named North Star. After we finished the pizza we hiked over the bridge and three miles up the mountain to a nice camp by a creek. We played some spades. Atticus and I beat Goose and Spidey for the fifth game in a row and then went to sleep.
Date: 2016-03-22
From: Painter Branch

To: Walnut mountain shelter
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: clear sky

We woke up at 6:30 and had a team meeting in our tent. Atticus was concerned that he wouldn't be able to walk very well because his foot was hurting him. With this in mind we made plans to go to groundhog creek shelter 5 miles away. Since we were going so little miles we decided to sleep in a little later than usual. When we did wake up, we went to get the bear bag and found it was stuck. Luckily one of our neighbors came to the rescue with a large stick. After this incident we got talking and befriended ash, fat sister, bean, and weatherman, a hardy group of north easterners. We finally rolled out of camp around 10:30 with a group 8 long. We quickly realized that a group of anymore than 4 is a bit cumbersome, and information often is altered going front to back. The whole 5 miles to groundhog creek was like a giant game of telephone. When we made the 5 miles Atticus decided he could probably push for the next shelter 7 miles away. On the trail we started hiking with North Star. Nothing too exciting happened until we made it to max patch, where we got some trail magic and met up with our friends Waldorf, stattler, Zataran's, and tarp. They were skipping ahead to hot springs. We pushed on from max patch, and when we made it to the shelter David was still feeing good so we decided to push on to the next shelter making it an 18 mile day in total. We did this so we'd have an easy 13 mile jaunt into hot springs. We finally made it to Walnut Mountain around 530. We had several mouse sightings before bedtime so the nerves were high. Luckily we met a really cool guy named daffy who played cards with us, and told us stories from his 2012 thru hike. Did not expect to do 18 but it ended up being a good day.