morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-06
From: springer

To: hawk mountain shelter
Miles today: 7.8
Weather: clear sky

couldnt sleep last night, like im sure all thru hikers the night before they leave. my sister gave me a ride to the trail. we live about 4 hours away. used the gps in my phone to get us there and the trip was fairly uneventful. i did however leave my 100$ pair of oakleys at the arbys in elleyjay, ga. when we went back, 30 mile detour, they were gone. i was a bit bummed, but still to excited about my trip to let it get me down. got slightly lost once before finding the forest service road that would take us almost to the top of springer mountain. the road was in pretty rough shape and the going was pretty slow, however we did have to pull over to let a guy in an oldmobile sedan go by us because he was flying ( we were in a full size 4wd truck ). it turned out to be the guy that hands out the little compressed towels at the parking lot. im sure many of you remember him. started out going the wrong way on the trail and quickly realized the top of springer was the other way. wow, 5 seconds into the trail and already lost. my sister would give me a hard time about this asking "and you are going to maine?". after we turned around she accompanied me up to the summit where we had the obligitory pictures. it was a beautiful day. 70 degrees and the sun was shining. a perfect day to start this amazing journey. after getting back to the parking lot we said our goodbyes and made plans to meet in gatlinburg in a few weeks. as she was driving away i remember being swept over with a wave of depression and really wanting to flag her down and just go back home with her. not really sure whey i felt this way but the depression would plauge me over the next week or so until i could finnally shake it. most of the hiking for the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. i made it to hawk mountain shelter feeling pretty good and in pretty good time. there was plenty of daylight and about 30 people staying at or around the shelter. i set my tent up made camp and ate dinner. appetite was non-existant because of the feelings of depression. i have only talked with one other hiker to any extent so far and his name if half-moon. layed in my tent and made a few phone calls home to let everyone know i had made it and everything was ok and to check on my sister to make sure she had made it home safely. listened to the military perform their exercises and had a restless first night out on the trail.
Date: 2010-04-07
From: hawk mountain shelter

To: gooch mountain shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: overcast clouds

i was able to get up early this morning with the intentions of have a big day and making it to blood mountain shelter. this didnt happen. it was another beautiful day and the hiking was pretty tough climbing sasafrass and justus mountains on day two. got to the shelter around noon and decided to call it a day. when i got there i met three other thru hikers. crispy critter, oregon sunshine, and likely. likely was a memorable hiker in the fact that he weighed 350+ pounds. he had spent the night at the shelter last night and claimed that others had stole much of his things when he had woke up in the morning so he was staying another night there. i claimed me a spot in the shelter cause i was to tired to set up my tent. i was a bit discouraged that i hadnt made more miles today and in hindsight realized after a couple hours of rest i could have easily pushed on further. i spent the next 8 hours just hanging out and talking to and meeting other hikers. there was a couple named dulap and rainer that i called massachusetts, cause thats where they were from. the connecticutt crew as i called them, bear, droid, clothsline, and two girls. another hiker i talked a lot with muddy waters. as night set in i went to bed about 8pm. had a lot of trouble getting any sleep due to restlessness and those feeling of depression. started raining during the night, a prelude of things to come the next day.
Date: 2010-04-08
From: gooch mountain shelter

To: woods hole shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: light rain

woke up this morning to rain. my first of the trip. after two beautiful days i would be hiking all day today in the rain. something i had better get used to. got a pretty early start again and the hiking seemed to be much easier today. i think mainly because it was raining and when i stopped it was really cold so it made you not want to stop. i had goretex boots on which where working well along with a rain suit. the rain wasnt getting in but i was sweating enough that it didnt matter. i quickly learned that a rain suit wasnt about keeping you dry but rather keeping you warm. about 5 miles in today i came to woody gap. this was a paved road with a bathroom. i remember thinking how odd it seemed to see something manmade after only a couple days in the woods. it was rather thrilling. i met muddy waters there and there was another guy there by the name of land shark. land shark had the type of personality that you couldnt help but like the guy immediately after you meet him. there were some benches under the bullitin board and we all sat there for a while making our lunch and talking, trying to stay warm and dry. land shark said that he was going to pitch his tarp right there at the road crossing but me and muddy waters were going to push on further today. rest of the days hiking was pretty uneventful. i made it to woods hole shelter around 3 oclock. i wanted to push on further but found out that blood mountain shelter had no water so i decided to stay the night here at woods hole. since it was raining, i had planned on sleeping in the shelter and when i got there, there was one open spot. lucky me. half moon was just leaving out as i arrived and i talked with another guy i met named truth. i changed into my dry clothes to get warm and cooked a meal. i was started to get a really good appetite by this time. there was a couple there with their dogs, one a chiawawa, which was freezing worse then i was. as i sat there for awhile others started to roll in. muddy water, massachucetts, connectucutt crew, ect. by the time everyone got there, there was probably around 25 people there. towards the end of the day the sun came out for a bit so i decided to set me tent up and hang a line to dry some clothes. truth got a fire going and everyone huddled around it trying to dry things out. i ended up melting part of the bottom of my boot for getting it to close to the fire, wont make that mistake again. as i was about to go to bed it started raining again so i hopped in my tent and got a much better sleep than i had the previous two nights. was looking forward to neels gap in the morning.
Date: 2010-04-09
From: woods hole shelter

To: neels gap 
Miles today: 3.6
Weather: clear sky

got up early, like always, and packed up camp and got ready for breakfast. three section hikers who didnt hang their food well had an encounter with a bear last night. it got thier food and one of their packs. i remember sitting there eating breakfast with one of them and she was from florida. gainsville if i remember correctly. go gators. headed out a little after breakfast for the climb up blood mountain. it was a beautiful day but pretty cold and the wind was blowing down off blood mountain pretty strong. once i got hiking i warmed up except for my hands which were cold basically the whole way. after reaching the top i found muddy waters up there enjoying the view. we talked for a while and took pictures and explored a little before heading down to neels gap. pretty steep, rocky decent. we talked about why we were out on the trail and what-not which really made the time fly. before we knew it we were at the road crossing and went in and secured our spots at the hostel. hostel was a nice place and i was so grateful for the hot shower. that was the first thing i did. after that went to the outfitters for a look around and a hot dog and a coke. it was awesome. miss janet from erwin tn was running the hostel for pirate. she is a very pleasant lady and a freind to all hikers. me and muddy were the first ones there and as the day went on other hikers started to filter in. miss janet made meat loaf that night for dinner and it was excellent. i remember getting to the hostel pretty early that morning and just being so happy at getting a shower and knowing i was going to be in a warm, comfortable bed that night.
Date: 2010-04-10
From: neels gap 

To: low gap shelter 
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: overcast clouds

staying at the hostel means that you have to get up early. after a warm, comfortable night in a hostel, part of me didnt want to leave. i ate breakfast and waited on the outfitter to open so i could finsh buying a few more resupply items. the hostel at neels gap has a huge hiker box from all the people who leave stuff that they dont need from the trail. i was able to get quite a bit of food for my trip to hiawassi and other hiker who had to much. neels gap is kinda the first real milestone for any northbound thru hiker. to days hiking was very nice. beautiful weather with some awesome views of some rocky outcroppings. was a great place to take a nice long break. had a tough climb up wildcat mountain but nice views looking back at the rocky outcrop i had just took a break at. i wasnt feeling very well last night at the hostel and today im not feeling much better. i think my allergies are giving me hell. just feel a little nauscious and light headed all day. got to the shelter pretty early. there were a few people there but they were all taking break, none of them were staying. i remember half moon being there and talking to him for a bit before he moved on. felt good to get another double digit day under my belt. later on the conn. crew and muddy waters would show up. the conn. crew seemed to have picked up a few other hikers with them. for dinner tonight i had a mre that an army guy gave me at the hostel. it was pretty crappy and heavy. i only took it cause i hadnt had once since my military days and wanted to try one. was a really good day for hiking and my feet were really starting to feel a lot better than they had. others werent so lucky. muddy waters had bleeding blisters. i felt pretty bad for him.
Date: 2010-04-11
From: low gap shelter 

To: deep gap shelter
Miles today: 22.5
Weather: clear sky

today would be the biggest mile day i would do for quite a while. i got up early with the intentions of trying to get to trey mountain shelter. it was 14+ miles away and seemed doable. when i was filling up my watter bladder that morning somehow i poked a hole in it. not i had a leaking bladder. my only backup was a one liter nalgene. that meant i wouldnt be skipping any water sources and now trey mountain wasnt just a goal, it was a necesity to be in good shape to hit hiawassi the next day. i got out of camp early and started hiking. made it to blue mountain shelter pretty early and had a nice break and snack. half moon was there and as i was leaveing silver showed up. he was one of the conn. crew and was hiking a bit faster than them and wanted to hike with me today to trey mountain as the others would pobably only make blue mountain. it was nice havign some company while hiking. we hiking up and over rocky mountain and made the climb up to trey mountain with only minimal breaks. it was about 6 when we got there and we made our dinners and ate and discussed the possibilty of moving on and making the other 8 miles to the next shelter. finnally decided to do it and we headed out about 6:30. it started to get dark and we donned our headlamps. this was my first experience with night hiking. we moved pretty quick and made it to the shelter around 9:30 in the pitch black. i had nearly doubled any previous days mileage today and combined with tough climbs over blue, rocky, trey, and kelly mountains i was thrilled at what i was able to accomplish. by the time we got there we were so tired all we could do was lay out our sleeping bags and go to sleep, dreaming of pizza and beer the next day in town.
Date: 2010-04-13
From: hiawassee ga

To: muskrat creek shelter
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

got up fairly early that morning but the shuttle didnt leave until 9, so i had some time to kill. i went and got me a soda and a hardees buscuit for breakfast. when i got back most everyone was up and i told silver goodbye, and i hoped to see him up the trail, although i never did. landshark tried to convince him hed be better off hiking with me than the conn. crew cause i was more likely to finish on katadyn, but the decided to wait for them. when the shuttle dropped us off i hoped to see the people i had been hiking with going into town but they werent there. i wouldnt see them again. most of the hiking was pretty uneventful with the one major exception of knocking off my first state at the ga/nc border. it was a really good feeling to be out of georgia. little did i know the wicked climb that awaited me out of bly gap. got to the shelter pretty early and the only other one there was a ridgerunner for this section. i decided to sleep in the shelter and went to bed pretty early. the shelter filled up quite a bit but everyone else was tenting. i went to bed pretty early. i decided that i need to make some pretty decent miles to be able to get to gatlinburg for the weekend that i wanted to make it there by.
Date: 2010-04-14
From: muskrat creek shelter

To: big spring shelter
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: clear sky

got up early and started hiking. dont remember much about this day other than at the end climbing albert mountain. i dont rememeber standing indian mountain for some reason, maybe because i was now in a hurry because of when i wanted to make gatlinburg. the climb up albert i think is memorable for everyone because it is a straight up climb for quite a ways. by the time i got to the top i had stopped several times to take a break and catch my breath. i got to the shelter and was pooped after a long day of hiking. almost did a 20 on this day. on the way up albert i ran into massachusetts and they would be camping at the same place as me. was good to see a familiar face. they would be the only ones i would see for quite a while that started around the same time as me. got a good nights sleep and was contemplating going to franking tomorrow. town food calls out to you on the trail. that and a hot shower and a comfortable bed.
Date: 2010-04-15
From: big spring shelter

To: wayah bald shelter
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: clear sky

today would be a pretty big day. was able to knock out another 20 mile day and was able to resist the temptation on franklin, nc. i got up early once again and started hiking. made my way to the next shelter and took a break. reached winding stair gap, about 9 mile, pretty early in the morning. some really nice people were there doing trail magic and i partook. as i sat there other hikers started showing up to wait for the shuttle into town. when it got there truth was getting off to start hiking again and i said hi to him. was nice to see another familiar face. i would be hiking with truth for the next week or so. after watching the shuttle to frankin leave, i headed on north on the a.t. the first shelter was about 5 miles and when i got there i was out of water so i had to make the half mile, one way, trip off trail to get some water and when i got there i decided to have lunch there as well. when i got to wayah bald lookout tower there was really awesome views of what i think were the smokies. was nice to get a look at them. there were two gators fans there from florida so i asked them to take my picture. it started raining right as i was getting to the shelter, so i decided to stay in it tonight. some guy there had brought some steak to cook on the grill and share with everyone, but i was so tired i just passed and went to sleep. another guy in the shelter had a guitar and him playing it quickly put me to sleep.
Date: 2010-04-16
From: wayah bald shelter

To: nantahala outdoor center
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

hiking today was fairly easy. i made the 16.5 miles by 2-3 oclock. me and truth were kinda unofficially hiking together. he had injured his hip, thus why i was able to keep up with him as he was a much stronger hiker than i am. this was also around the time that i developed my own injury in my heel. possibly a heel spur, but i dont know. it hurt quite a bit going uphill but very little on flat ground and almost none going downhill. i made it to burningtown gap pretty early in the morning. i heard stories of the awesome trail magic that was put on there, but i only had a coke and a chocolate cake and i was on my way. it hadnt really started yet. this is also the first time i met balimore jack. i would meet him two more times on my trip.the noc is kinda a kayaker place. there is an outfitter, bar, resteraunt, along with some lodging. i was looking forward to a warm bed and a hot shower but it was not meant to be because of some sort of whitewater kayaking event that was going on over the weekend. i ended up taking the advice of baltimore jack and walking down the railroad tracks and camping by the river. there were several other people there mostly drunk. i talked to one guy in particular that was pretty harmless but gave me a bit of an uneasy feeling. he was from tennessee so he seemed to want to talk to me quite a bit.after setting up my tent, i headed straight for the resteraunt. i was torn between the pizza and a burger and chose the pizza, which was a mistake cause it wasnt very good pizza. after i ate i went outside and saw truth showing up. he had stayed longer at burningtown gap than i had. i told him where i was camping and he headed down there to hang his hammock. i went into the general store they had there to inquire about a shower and they told me to just go ahead and use the ones they had for the guests in their cabins, so i thanked them and headed on. took a shower and did my laundry, then headed back to camp for a bit. i had intentions of watching the whitewater kayak competition but i was pretty tired and it didnt start til late. i hung around until about 9 or so then i decided it was time to go to bed. i talked to truth about getting some breakfast at the resteraunt in the morning and we set a time.
Date: 2010-06-08
From: Allison Park, PA

To: Baxter State Park
Miles today: 0.0

The car is loaded, and we're hittin' the road in 9 hours for Baxter State Park!!!! My pack weighed in at 34 pounds and that was with a full water pouch and 10 days of food for the 100 mile wilderness (which I didn't realize was so soon after starting Sobo).I am excited, nervous, anxious, tired, etc--I have mixed emotions for what I'm about to do. The whole idea of getting away from civilization--giving up phones, internet, beds, toilets, running water, stoves, and everything people take for granted on a daily basis seems like such a grand, liberating idea in my head. But the reality of it--how will I REALLY adjust to not having it? Will I happily adapt because the beauty of hard work and nature will override the discomforts, or will I be miserable for 5 months? I'd like to think that the comforts of life in the suburbs are trivial and I'd be able to give them up for any length of time, but let's be honest...I've built up this fantasy in my head of how noble and ambitious this quest is, how breathtaking each view will be, how fresh the air and water will be, etc. Will I be disappointed? I mean, no one factors rain, sore feet, frightening sounds in the night, and mental/physical fatigue into their fantasies of hiking the AT.I think I'll be fine. I know to expect discomfort, anxiety, and fatigue. I don't want to be disappointed, and I hope that it will be what I thought it would be. There will be times I want to quit, times I want to keep going forever, and people in the same exact boat as we are--people who left behind all sorts of "regular" lifestyles to come take a walk in the woods for a few months.-Autumn
Date: 2010-06-09
From: Allison Park, PA

To: Baxter State Park
Miles today: 0.0

It's the night before the beginning of the beginning of a VERY long walk and obsession with trees and other green things! Yes, we (Autumn and I) begin our journey tomorrow, by driving up to Baxter State Park, Maine and Katahdin mountain!Anxious? Yes. How can one think about 2200 miles of broken wilderness from the point of view of a city boy without feeling a little anxious. And, regardless of the turnout, it will be an experience to talk about, reminisce about, and share with others.Please keep us in your thoughts, in your prayers, and on your web browsers (especially if you want to know how the trek progresses)! If you want to check a visual log of our progress online, check us out at http://picasaweb.google.com/104223347732918571394/AppalachianTrail?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPol-e4zcad5AEAaron
Date: 2010-06-14
From: Jo-Mary Rd

To: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to
Miles today: 59.7
Weather: overcast clouds

It's been a very eventful couple of days. Katahdin kicked our asses. I feel lucky to have our group off that mountain alive. I thought my parents would have to be air rescued. Mom fell off a rock, and hit her head. Dad lost his footing a couple of times, one time falling into mom, crushing her fingers. We ran out of water and were probably all dehydrated. We got back to camp after dark and were all so sick that we went to bed without eating. It took 13 HOURS to finish Katahdin--we were dead last off the moutain, BUT we made it up there to the summit, and that's what counts!! After all this, the ranger told us it was an EASY 13 miles to the next lean-to. Well, easy is relative. There were 2 strong-current, high water "streams" to ford. Aaron fell in the first one, and we had to ford the second one without knowing we had to because there were no blazes to be seen anywhere. The rest of the hike was pretty nice, but we pushed too hard and came into camp sick and exhausted. It's rather disheartening--we were already thinking of quitting, so we hiked back out of the wilderness the next day and were shuttled to Millinocket, where we stayed at the Appalachian Trail Lodge--run by a thru-hiker husband and wife, Ole Man and Navi. Awesome place! It was so NICE to regroup, relax, and shower. They talked us through a lot of things, and we decided to shuttle partway into the 100-mile wilderness, and finish about 65 miles of it. Maybe someday we'll go back and do the 40 we missed, but I'll still consider myself a thru-hiker if that's all we missed! Like B-man said, it gives us a reason to go back because we never want to be done with the trail.We did a 4 mile hike today, and we're staying at Cooper Brook Falls Lean-to--awesome shelter with a nice, clean privy, nice tenting sites, and a beautiful waterfall right next to it--supposedly a "swimming hole." We have an 8 mile hike tomorrow to the next lean-to, and the trail starts to get pretty difficult from there, apparently. But we're going to take it nice and easy with plenty of breaks to eat and drink. We can do this!
Date: 2010-06-19
From: Wilson Valley Lean-to

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 44.4
Weather: clear sky

Wow. This is a lot harder than we expected. These Maine mountains are nothing but rock piles to climb up and down. It is KILLING my knees because there are very few gradual downhills--it's all stepping down sheets of rock and finding the easiest way down piles of jagged rocks. We are exhausted every day, run out of water every now and then, and we're hurting in general. Poor Aaron rolls his ankle and hyper-extends his knee every single day. He suggested giving this up, taking the money he has saved up, and going to backpack Europe instead. That's a VERY tempting idea, especially toward the end of the day when we're exhausted and our feet hurt. It's kind of depressing, though, that we're already wishing we were doing something else. Sigh. Europe would be nice, but we can do that some other time. I want to finish this trail!!! We are REALLY looking forward to Monson tomorrow. I can't wait to eat real food and dessert...mmmmm.