morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-04-09
From: Cold Spring Shelter

To: Rufus Morgan Shelter, NC
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: clear sky

Today, (our 7th wedding anniversary!), we descended (with a few ups to make it interesting), from a high point of 5200' near Cold Spring Shelter, to a low of 2100' a bit above the Nantahala River Gorge. There were some great views of the North Carolina mountains from high points, with the highlight being a 360 degree view from the top of an old fire tower on top of Wesser Bald. From there, we could see the Smoky Mountains in the distance, and could imagine ourselves hiking along them in a few days.It was so neat to descend from the high, leafless summits down into the new growth down low. It was like walking into spring. Suddenly, there were flowers everywhere, white Smooth Rock Cress, white and purple Lesser Daisy Fleabane, cream colored Wild Oats, yellow Dwarf Cinquefoil, white Serviceberry (tree), white, yellow and purple violets, white Bloodroot flowers, blue Bluets. Tuliptree buds opening.We're dreading the climb tomorrow up from the 1800' gorge to 5100' Cheoah Bald in about 8 miles, with fully loaded foodbags after picking up a mail drop at Nantahala Outdoor Center.
Date: 2006-04-10
From: Rufus Morgan Shelter, NC

To: Top of Cheoah Bald
Miles today: 8.9

Nice day, clear, temps in the 60's. We climbed and climbed today, up over Swim Bald, down to Sassafras Gap shelter, then up to the summit of Cheoah Bald, where we pitched our tent at the top of a grassy meadow facing east, with an enormous view spread out below us of the purple mountains fading into sunset colors. The legs felt stronger than we thought, which made us happy.Before climbing up, we picked up our latest food drop at NOC, and received a package of organic goodies from Mark N, who has been following our online journals. Thanks Mark! That stuff you sent is probably the reason our legs felt so good going up the hill!At one point during the climb, I (Linc) had to jog back 1/2 mile to retrieve a pair of sox I'd left behind during a stop to get water from a mountain spring.It was neat to see the new flowers down in the bottom of the gorge, then climb up on the dry, south facing side of the gorge and see a completely different, pine-oak ecosystem. The best part of the day was sitting quietly at the top of the mountain after dinner, watching the sunset colors change, and listening to the Robins and Towhees sing the sun down.
Date: 2006-04-11
From: Cheoah Bald

To: campsite 3/4 mile North of Cody Gap
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: clear sky

We ended up missing the sunrise from our high tent site on Cheoah Bald, because we were lazy and slept right through it. We were feeling a little poky early in the day, but perked up as we warmed up and as the day progressed. Had some steep climbs today, which resulted in being close to having to shift to Granny Gear. It was beautifully sunny today, starting to cloud up late in the day. We got a beautiful sunset from our campsite - up on a little knoll.We saw lots of wildflowers today = Bloodroot, violets, trillium (not yet in flower), Rattlesnake weed (not yet flowering), spring beauties, buttercups.Hoping to get into Fontana Dam tomorrow before the post office closes.
Date: 2006-04-12
From: Campsite 3/4 mile north of Cody Gap

To: Fontana Dam Shelter
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: overcast clouds

A fairly easy walk today downhill through open hardwoods, down into spring again, past flowering Rue Anemone, violets, red and yellow Trillium, yeloow Trout Lilies, white flowering Dogwoods and Serviceberry trees, red Redbud tree flowers, and newly leafing Sweet Gum, Tulip tree, Maple. A Cardinal sang as we stepped out of the woods at the edge of enormous Fontana Lake (reservoir).We walked and hitched into Fontana Village, picked up our food drop and letters at the post office, washed our clothes at the laundromat (had to change into our rainsuits in order to wash the hiking clothes), and caught a ride back out to the shelter from Willow (another through hiker) and her husband.There, we took advantage of the free showers at the dam visitor's center, baked bread on a flat rock on the fire pit grill, and were fed a free dinner of hot dogs, ham and cheese sandwiches and chips by a group of visiting Trail Angels called "Hikers for Christ". Thanks, Nathan, John, and Gene for the food and good energy!After sunset, we walked along the quiet dam access road, enjoying the moonlight over the still waters of the resevoir. We came to a small spillway where an enormous quantity of frogs had chosen to sit and sing, their voices amplified and focused on us by the curved shape of the spillway. The sound of all of those creatures celebrating spring under the moonlight was so powerful!Tomorrow, up into the Smokies!
Date: 2006-04-13
From: Fontana Dam Shelter

To: Mollie's Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: scattered clouds

We ended up hiking further than we expected today, considering our packs full of food to get through the Smokies. There are many people here at the shelter, so we set our tent up - we sleep much better in the tent than in shelters. The terrain today was a lot of uphill getting out of Fontana Dam. The weather was mostly cloudy, with some bursts of sunshine.We stopped at the first campsite, Birch campsite to cook our supper and bake bread on a twiggy fire. It ended up taking us about two hours - it is a nice break in the middle of the day, and then we don't have to cook supper and bake bread at the end of the day.Today we identified a Cut-leaf Toothwort. We also had a very good violet/plantain salad with our dinner at lunch. We also saw some clumps of bear hair on our way along the trail.The hiking was beautiful - lots of open forest areas, beautiful trees, flowers, rocks, and many wonderful bird songs to listen to. At Doe Knob, the spring beauties were incredible - they were like a huge carpet spread all over the woods - and the smell was intoxicating. Life is good!
Date: 2006-04-14
From: Mollie's Ridge Shelter

To: Derrick Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

Another beautiful day of hiking in the Smokies, with very sunny weather, and the temperature was hot today, not warm, but hot. We stopped off at Spence Field Shelter to cook our supper at lunch today, contemplating staying there (making it a short, early day), but decided we did not want to just hand out all afternoon with all these blackflies, so decided to hike on another 6 miles to this shelter. The last six miles were very tough - much more uphill and steep than we had expected - the profile portion of our map is not very good. We got to the shelter and it was full, so we had to tent again - but this was good news for us.Again, there were many, many spring beauties, and lots of Trout Lilies (some blooming, some not).Today our water filter finally gave out, so we will have to purchase a new one in Hot Springs. Will have to get water from springs, or boil if it's from a stream until then.
Date: 2006-04-15
From: Derricks Knob Shelter

To: Double Gap Spring Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Beautiful weather again today! 70's, mostly sunny. We both were feeling very tired, and walked slowly along through a continuous carpet of flowering Spring Beauties (pink and white), Trout Lilies (yellow), in a bed of grass beneath Yellow Birch, Beech, oaks, Rhododendron, Hobblebush, with juncos, vireos and a few robins singing us along. As we climbed to the shelter, we entered into an northern boreal forest ecosystem of fir, hemlock and some spruce, which felt a lot like Maine. We stopped after five miles at Siler Bald Shelter, but a group of weekend hikers had shown up carrying a box of wine, margueritas, and whiskey, and not wanting to stay awake partying, we continued on to the next shelter, where we were happy to spend dinner hour chatting with other hikers we knew before retreating to the quiet and privacy of our tent pitched on a knoll under fragrant conifers.
Date: 2006-04-16
From: Double Spring Gap Shelter

To: Icewater Spring Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: broken clouds

Today we climbed to the highest point on the A.T. - Clingman's Dome. We went up to the top of the observation tower - it has a huge ramp on it to make it handicapped accessible. On the way back down the ramp, I challenged Linc to a race and I ended up wining - I guess I looked pretty funny, cause I was trying to make sure I did not fall running down this ramp.Had a really weird experience at a sping today. The water was very, very cold, and I was trying to camel up a little. As I was drinking it, I got one of those "ice cream headaches", so slowed down a little drinking. Then I started to feel a little lightheaded, so I took some deep breaths and loosened the waistbelt on my pack, but I still felt lightheaded (I was istting on a log with my pack still on). When I told Linc that I felt lightheaded, my voice sounded far, far off. He helped me get my pack off and sit on the ground with my head between my knees. The feeling passed, and we sat there for a few more minutes to make sure it did not return. I felt perfectly fine the rest of the day. We figured that the cold water must have constricted my blood vessels so that not much blood got to my brain???We were planning to cook our supper and bread at Newfound Gap, but it being a Sunday, the place was absolutely packed with tons of people. So we just stopped to use the restrooms, get some water and continue on up the trail toward the shelter, thinking we would cook along the way. We ended up just going all the way to the shelter before cooking.Another funny experience happened to me on the way from Newfound Gap the shelter. There are many dayhikers on this section of the trail, and it was a very hot day. As I was sweatily hiking up the hill, a couple stopped to let me pass. The lady looked at me and said "oh, that poor thing!". I replied, "oh no, don't pity me, I'm having a great time." Which I am!
Date: 2006-04-17
From: Icewater Spring Shelter

To: Tricorner Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: light rain

Temps in the low 60's, mostly cloudy, some sun, fast moving clouds, winds 20 to 30 mph (very windy!). Today was some of the best scenery yet. A lot of knife edge ridge (3' to 8' wide), views either side down into incredibly steep sided ridges and slopes. The trail very well graded, much of it built up and reinforced long ago (1930's?) with well crafted dry stacked stone masonry. Walking on the perfectly made path through such wildness felt very neat, like hiking on some ancient Inca road through a mountain jungle. The fast moving clouds made the sunlight flash off and on in an instant, almost strobe like at times. Colors seemed brighter, blue shale, glowing moss. We strode past yellow birch, spruce, hemlock, mountain laurel. Juncos, golden-crowned warblers, winter wrens, and broad-winged hawk, all birds with very high-pitched voices, sang here, matching the feeling of height with their voices.We met a man and 2 very tired boys out in this remote section of the park, on what appeared to be a forced march. The man was forcing these two exhausted kids to hike 24 miles from Newfound Gap to a trailhead far to the north, carrying next to nothing for food, water or raingear. We did what we could to encourage the kids, offered water, and questioned the man. The man seemed "mean", and none of us through hikers along the trail felt confident enough to attempt to talk sense into him. As far as we know, the trio completed their march safely.
Date: 2006-04-18
From: Tri Corner Knob Shelter

To: Davenport Gap Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: light rain

Well, we almost made a 15 miler today - this is our longest distance yet. Surprisingly, we don't feel as tired as we had expected - but of course we had mostly downhill walking today, and the uphills were nicely graded. We considered going on to Standing Bear Farm, rather than staying at the shelter, but realized that it was too late in the day to do that.It was quite foggy for the morning, but then cleared to a sunny, hot day. Because we are hiking down to lower elevations, we are seeing lots of greenery and flowers - violets, mayapple (unblooming), bloodroot (unblooming), chickweed, spring beauties, trout lilies and many more that we don't know yet. Saw some reddish flowers on a tree (maybe a red maple - but too far away to tell for sure even with the binoculars).   Heard lots of Juncos, black-throated green warblers. Saw some turkey vultures. Also heard barred owls calling to one another in the middle of the day, first at 4:00 p.m., then at 6:30 p.m. Also heard pileated woodpecker, downy woodpecker, and nuthatch.We've really enjoyed the Smokies.
Date: 2006-04-19
From: Davenport Gap Shelter

To: Standing Bear Farm Hostel
Miles today: 3.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Big thunderstorm last night and this morning. Most of us in the shelter woke to watch the lightning flash, and listen to the thunder crash and rain pelt down on the roof, all of us feeling very safe and warm and dry in our down sleeping bags. It was a nice feeling to be so cozy with all of that wetness and noise just a few feet away.At one point, Jeanne got up to pee, something we had all apparently been putting off for fear of waking others up opening the noisy metal door on the shelter's bear-caged front. As she returned, the rest got up one by one, filing out slowly and clumsily, half asleep, trying not to fall over or bump into eachother or any of the packs dangling from the roof. Another hiker, Miles, woke and watched in befuddlement as these strange, silent forms filed back and forth in and out of the shelter. Finally he hissed, "What the heck is everybody doing!?" To him, it looked like one of those Night of the Living Dead movie sets. Everyone cracked up in laughter.After the rain let up, we trotted down the mountain, through lots of greenery and the good smells after a rain, alongside a swollen, cascading creek, among the calls of hooded warblers, ovenbirds, cardinals, black-throated green warblers, past pink, yellow, white and purple flowers (wild geraniums, rue anemone, solomon seal, foamflower, wild iris, trillium, voilets, dandelion, cleavers, chickweed. So beautiful!Climbing out of the Pigeon River gorge, after crossing under I-80, we passed through an enormous patch of poison ivy, like crossing a mine field.Standing Bear Farm was a magical place for a hiker. Old restored farm buildings served as a bunkhouse, cabins (one straddling a creek), store, laundry building, shower building, kitchen-dining building, internet and phone kiosk, etc. There was a hammock stretched under the railing of a footbridge over the creek. It was a beautiful spot, but in our minds, WAY too crowded and noisy, with 24 hikers at last count trying to get showers, check email, do laundry, cook on the three burner stove, and catch up with all of the trail gossip from eachother. We pitched our tent way up the hill beside an old cow barn, and, after restocking our packs with food that we'd mailed there, talking with other hikers, and listening to several jam on backpacking guitars, we walked up and fell asleep to the sounds of the some small animal making noises in the barn next to us. The internet connection had been too slow to allow updating our journal, but we were able to talk with our two Mom's. We'd been worried about Jeanne's Mom, who had undergone surgery to replace a hip joint the day before, and were relieved to hear that she was safe in recovery.
Date: 2006-04-20
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Groundcreek Shelter
Miles today: 7.2
Weather: overcast clouds

WE climbed and climbed and climbed today, stopping frequently to look at all the wildflowers. Some of what we saw today were: poison ivy, spring beauties, trout lilies, fire pink, Dutchmen's breeches, yellow ragwort, yellow stargrass, mayapple, violets, cleavers and many more. We had a cooked vegetable of cleavers and chickweed. We also heard many birds today, some of which were: Black-throated Green Warmbler, Summer Tanager, Ovenbird, and more.We were fairly poky up the hill because we stopped so much to look at flowers, and look around, but the last two miles to the shelter (which were basically downhill), were very, very fast, as it appeared that a thunderstorm was approaching, and we were hoping to stop in at the shelter to cook and eat, and decided to try to get there before it downpoured. We did, it did not downpour until about three hours later. We were very slow in cooking our meal and bread, as we were trying to cook with hemlock twigs, and they do not burn well. As were were just finishing up and starting to pack up to go another three or so miles, the thunderstorm and hard rain came, so we decided to stay put. There are many people here tonight (15 of us total), but only three of us are sleeping in the shelter, the rest opting to set up tents now that we are out of the Smokies and that is again an option.
Date: 2006-04-21
From: Groundcreek Shelter

To: Brown Gap
Miles today: 2.9

Wow, we really got in a lot of miles today :-). It was still thunderstorming when we awoke this morning, as it did on and off all night, so we decided to wait it out. We hung out at the shelter until just after 2:00 - most of the storms having abated around noon - and we had to finish cooking up our bread, eating our supper for lunch, and packing - but finally, we headed out, ready to brave any more rain that may fall today. We hiked and hikked, for a very short time, along the wet and slippery trail, until we got to Brown Gap, and there we found some trail magic.Ox and Pebbles had four large tents set up with fruit, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, candy, cookies, and more. We were both still full from our supper for lunch, so said that we would just have a banana each. They convinced us to take a hamburger to go, so they wrapped them up for us. As we were standing there waiting to go, they started talking about the delicious breakfast they were going to cook up in the morning. It didn't take much to convince Linc and I to stay, especially when we looked up at the dark gray sky (also, we were hoping for clearing weather for our trip over Max Patch Bald, which was predicted for Saturday). So, we set up our tent. Ox and Pebbles decided to take the planned dinner to Standing Bear Farm, since it looked at though Linc and I would be the only ones there for dinner (ham, yams, salad), and we were both full from our own dinner and the burgers. They left us in charge, and we cooked up hamburgers for three other hikers. As we were hanging out waiting for any other hikers and for Ox and Pebbles to return, Linc decided he was getting hungry again, so he grilled himself another burger, and then that one was so good, about 20 minutes later he cooked another. When Ox and Pebbles returned, we helped them to clean up and put food into their truck for the night, and said our good nights just after dark.
Date: 2006-04-22
From: Brown Gap

To: Old Roaring Fork Shelter
Miles today: 8.3
Weather: moderate rain

We heard some distant thunderstorms during the night, and it was still raining in the morning, but not much left for rumbling. We had a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese, red and green peppers, sausage, bananas, strawberries, and oranges. We took a long time before we managed to leave Brown Gap, mostly because every time we'd start thinking about packing up, it would start downpouring again. We stayed long enough to get seconds on the scrambled eggs, and a hamburger each for an early lunch.We finally got ourselves going around 2:00 p.m. We were slow, slow, slow - too much food in our stomachs. However, our slow start, and our slow climb up rewarded us spectacularly - we had beautiful mostly clear skies for our time up on Max Patch Bald, with its 360 degree views of mountains everywhere. It was windy and cool on top, but we stayed long enough to set up our tent, tarp, and get other wets things out of our packs so they would dry.We saw tons of white trillium carpeting the hillsides on our walk today, along with some pale yellow and magenta trilliums. We identified three new plants today on our way up to the summit: Blue Cohosh, Dwarf Larkspur, and Smooth Rock Cress. We also saw the very now familiar mayapples (still not in bloom) and violets. We again heard barred owls hooting in the daylight. Also heard robins, Black-throated Green Warblers, and saw a beautiful Bluebird on the top of Max Patch. Also, last night, as we were heading into the tent, saw our first bat of the trip. The trail was again beautiful all day. We still feel so lucky to be able to be out here in nature, walking on this trail toward our home in Stratton.
Date: 2006-04-23
From: Old Roaring Fork Shelter

To: 1.5 miles south of Hot Springs, NC
Miles today: 13.2
Weather: overcast clouds

During the night, 2 or 3 barred owls had a conversation just outside the shelter, hooting and howling at eachother. A winter wren woke us with its high-pitched, musical trill. We packed up and headed out into a nice, sunny day.Climbing over the summit of Walnut Mountain, we descended to a beautiful scene. In a small gap, among open hardwoods and a sun-dappled green forest floor splashed with colorful patches of spring beauties, yellow trout lilies, and white dutchman's breeches, sat a small, old, log sided shelter, looking inviting and quaint, the trail meandering right past the open front. It was so perfect a spot that I think when I think "Appalachian Trail", I'll think about Walnut Mountain Shelter. We took a break there, got water from a mountainside spring, and continued happily onward, up over Bluff Mountain, another open forested summit, then down into rhododendrons and hemlocks growing alongside a few streams. The last few miles were up on a dry, south facing hillside, and we found two snakes on the trail, a 2 foot long garter, and a 3 foot long black snake. We stopped occasionally to eat voilets, chickweed, dandelion and watercress greens, browsing our way along the trail like a pair of deer.Tomorrow, into Hot Springs, North Carolina, our first town that the trail travels through. No hitch-hiking required.
Date: 2006-04-24
From: Campsite about 1.5 miles south of Hot Springs, NC

To: Approximately 1/2 mile North of Tanyard Gap
Miles today: 8.0

Got into Hot Springs about 9:30, and were caught in the vortex of town until about 3:00 p.m. It took quite a while to do our grocery shopping, as none of the stores were complete for everything we needed, so we needed to get a little from each of the three stores that sold food. We also had a very short time on the internet, went to the post office to forward on our bounce box, and to mail some of our cold weather gear on to our friends, Dennis and Patricia. It felt so good to finally get rid of our hiking boots that we had been carrying, but had not worn in at leas three weeks. It was also a treat that the outfitter only charged 8 cents an ounce for fuel instead of the past high price of 20 cents per ounce.The hike out of Hot Springs started out very steeply, giving us good views of the river as we ascended. We got up toward Tanyard Gap, and the area was beautiful. There was a dammed pond, lot of open fields, fruit trees, and more mature trees. It turns out that it is part of a habitat revitalization for turkeys and other wildlife. Saw more trail magic at Tanyard Gap, but was passed on sodas and candy, opting to continue hiking to find our home for the night. We found it about a half mile later on an old road that appeared not to be used anymore. We had much difficulty hanging our newly resupplied, heavy food bags, as the trees were quite small in the area. After about 45 minutes, we found one that was high enough and srong enough to hold our food, and it was now dark. A Whippoorwill was callling while we were trying to hang our food, but quieted down by the time we retired into the tent for the night. Maybe he was laughing at our follies in trying to hand our heavy food!!!!