morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-03-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Well we're stepping off the edge; stepping off the financial edge by quitting my job and Bob retiring, stepping off the physical edge by deciding to test our limits by hiking the AT, stepping off the spiritual edge by requiring ourselves to trust completely in God for our finances, our health, our success, our lives, and hoping to grow through this time away from it all; stepping off the emotional edge by daring to make the dreams into a reality.Tomorrow is the first day in awhile that I don't go into my "job.' It feels strange, but our primary work for the next few weeks is the final preparation of provisions, the building up of our physical strength and aerobic endurance, and the final wrap of all odds and ends here at home. it is crazy how many last minute odds and ends must be managed. Twenty-four days until we get on the train bound for adventure. The Wanna BsBob and Beverly
Date: 2016-04-03
To: Cross Timbers Trail
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

My NemesisMy first backpacking trip was a few years ago with a group of hangers from Hammockforums.com. They must have had a laugh seeing us in our heavy jeans, heavy coats, and heavy backpacks, especially when we announced our intentions to hike the Appalachian Trail. But what I remember most about that hike was that my knees started hurting so badly that I thought I might end up having to be carried out.On many of the descents, I started just going backwards to ease the pain. On level ground, I walked stiff-legged to give my knees a beak.I don't want you to misunderstand as the young men were kind. One even filled my Nalgeine with boiling water to place in my sleeping bag. This allowed me to survive the 17 degree temperature that February night. They also were free with much needed advice. Therefore, it seemed fitting that we take on Cross Timbers for our final shakedown before heading out to the AT. We are also having trouble getting out pack weight down and more getting the volume down so all fits in the bags. We have a bit more space taken up with home due to the hammock camping style with the tarps above and the underquilts below. It is as if we were carrying two tents (hammocks), with two more tents (tarps) in addition to having to each have two sleeping bags (under quilt and top quilt). It all adds up to a lot of volume.I am looking forward to the hike and what we may learn this time.Bob and Beverly FlachThe Wanna Bs
Date: 2016-04-09
To: shake down hike - Juniper Point to Paw Paw
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It was not without some trepidation that this B of The Wanna Bs faced the giant of Cross Timbers Trail. It is a mere 14 mile trail, but one that years earlier dealt a blow to my confidence. An understanding, patient, and confident partner made all the difference. Taking the trail at my own speed which sometimes meant a quarter of a mile an hour and sometimes 2 miles an hour, resulted in the conquering of this seemingly giant of a mental obstacle. Joys of the trail included two beautiful lakeside campsites and watching both the sunset in one direction over the lake and the amazing sunrise in the other. Hiking with our Shitzu. Princess Muffin, provided surprising delights. She loved being "off -leash." She probably hiked half again the miles we did, surging ahead then coming back to check on us. She learned that creeks were not scary but refreshing both to drink and cool one's little paws. She "made friends" with a small tortoise. She willing allowed me to comb out burrs and caked in mud each evening for the chance to climb into my hammock with me. When exhausted on day three, she willingly slept on the top of my pack and around my neck. The wildflowers were sparce but beautiful. The trail was either going up or down most of the time and I wonder how these climbs will compare to the PUDS of Virginia. I have no delusions that the hike on the AT will be as low of pain as the Cross Timbers Trail, but I am assured that at my pace, coupled with the best partner possible, we can conquer what the trail may bring, despite our ages and arthritis. After working with the geriatric population as a social worker and and now finding myself in that catagory, I have come to love the following quote: "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out and proclaiming, 'WOW! What a ride!'"Thanks to Sandy for turning me onto it and to either Hunter S Thompson or Mark Frost for authoring it. We plan to live and enjoy the life the Lord has given us.Bob and Beverly Flach
Date: 2016-04-11
To: Train to Harpers Ferry 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This week has been full of goodbyes. Saying goodbye to family and friends is difficult. We had some friends we don't often see over for a camp fire meal and answered their many questions about our planned hike. We were blessed by promises of prayer support. We tried to attend at least one of each of our grandchildrens sports events. We had our youngest overnight one night and two that we had not been able to have over in the last several months for special grandparent time another night. We attended our daughters wedding. We spent a day with my youngest son and his wife then took them to the airport to go back to California where they live. We spent as much time as we could with family but it still wasn't enough. Tonight we enjoyed fellowship with our regular home group and received their prayers. We will miss our family and friends.
Date: 2016-04-13
To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Appalachian Trials QuestionsBev'sI am thru-hiking the A.T. because¢¦..It is an old dream and I want to make it a reality.I love hikingI want to prove to myself that I can do itI want to be able to say I saw every inch of the trail.I want to challenge myself physically and mentally and come out on top. I have quit on too many goals, I want to finish this one.I want to see the top of each of the mountains via the trail. I am hoping that just like an Indian brave going out on his own hears from the great spirit, just like John Muir who said going out into the woods is the sure way to go ¢in¢ and just like Jesus went out into the wilderness to speak with the Father, I will hear from God as to my worth, my purpose here on the earth, and the direction I should go in the future. When I successfully thru-hike the A.T. I will¢¦..Have accomplished a genuine dreamHave a great story to tellHave children and grandchildren who will also be able to brag on me.Have a better idea of who I am and what I am made of and perhaps what the Lord wants of me.Be proud of myself for not giving up.At Katadin, I will be celebrating with Maine Lobster, maybe they are better than what you can get in TexasAt Springer, I will celebrate the sure knowledge that I saw it all the way through. I celebrate by making reservations for an Alaska cruise.   If I give up on the A.T. I will¢¦..Be sad and know that I will not ever be able to complete this dreamKnow that once again I am a quitter, if it is not without a good good reason.Probably be pretty disappointed in myself.Bob's I am thru-hiking the A.T. because¢¦..   This dream started out as not wanting to be separated from my wife for 7 months. I have since come to embrace the dream on my own. It is a challenge that I believe will impact the rest of our lives whether we succeed or not. I don¢t want our dreams to be just dreams.        I want to overcome my selfdoubt. Do something bigger than myself.        I want to see that part of the country.        I want to grow closer to God and to you.        Finish something I start.When I successfully thru-hike the A.T. I will¢¦..   Probably be so proud of us that I will be crowing like a rooster.    I will also be buying a new wardrobe.    But more importantly I/We will know that what we put our minds to and      prayers to we can accomplish.If I give up on the A.T. I will¢¦..   If I give up because of lack of commitment I will be very disappointed in myself as well as surprised. If I have to stop because of physical reasons I will be very disappointed but will still have the satisfaction of knowing we did our best.
Date: 2016-04-15
To: Flip-Flop Festival
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

We left Dallas by train on Weds the 13th. I could not sleep that night at all, partially due to excitement of the hike and partially due to a great desire not to miss one thing about the train ride.   I loved it.   Bob didn't get much sleep either but his reasons were different.   The shaking and rattling of the train kept waking him up. The next day we celebrated our anniversary on the train first, then by visiting the art museum in Chicago.We returned to the train that evening for the ride from Chicago to Harpers Ferry. That night we both slept better. The end of our first long distance train ride.We arrived in Harpers Ferry with excitement, visited the AT conservancy and had our pictures taken and hiker numbers assigned, then went to settle into the hostel where we thought we had reservations. We did not but due to one last minute cancellation we got in. I get the top bunk. They stamped our AT Passport with its first stamp. We stayed in our first hostel. First Yogi :   On the way up the steep climb to the hostel, I asked a lady if I could buy one of the waters she had yet to pull out of her trunk. She gave us each a bottle.First Trail Magic: A Hiker named Danger brought trail magic of dark chocolate brownies with dark chocolate chips and salted caramel chips...YUM!First Slack Packing:   A lady stopped to see if we needed a ride and instead gave our packs a ride to the hostel. Second Trail Magic: Bob got a ride home from the Walmart by townies instead of having to wait an hour for the bus. Ahead: Flip-flop Festival tomorrow and Sunday. Found an 8:00 am service on Sunday to attend. We start out hiking on Monday, unfortunately or fortunately with about 20 other hikers. We thought they were mostly leaving on Sunday and we would have the first shelter area to ourselves. We haven't met anyone else who is hammock camping. We continue to covet your prayers.Bob and BeverlyThe Wanna Bs
Date: 2016-04-17
To: Relaxation and Celebration
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

4-17-2016Celebrating my birthday starting with Episcopal Mass in the early morning which I enjoyed immensely. Then off to a historical tour of Harpers Ferry with a guide who knew his stuff by heart and was an excellent storyteller. Harpers Ferry has a history filled with significance from the explorers Lewis and Clark to the attack and attempted slave uprising made by John Brown, to the take over by the Confederates then the Union then the Confederates again etc., to the post war meetings of a group called "the Niagara" which fought for equal rights and was the beginning of what is now the NAACP, to the establishment of one of the first primary schools to teach freedman the basic education denied them as slaves leading also to the establishment of the first interracial college. These education efforts were strongly fought by the majority of the white population but was instigated by the Freewill Missionary Baptist Church. Our guide caused us to feel deeply the struggles. We then spent some money at an outfitters then took a trail angel, Suzanne, to lunch. Reverse trail magic. We laundered and showered and repacked. My birthday dinner was at The Anvil: a steak with potatoes and salad followed by salted carmel gelato. My favorite!
Date: 2016-04-18
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Ed Garvey Shelter 
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: clear sky

4/18/2016. M 1023.1 (Harpers Ferry - 1029.4 (Ed Garvey Shelter)First Day on the Hike I read sometime by a previous AT Hiker that "the destination is the journey."This is so true and once we stepped on the trail right at the W. Virginia / Maryland border we had reached our destination with the beginning of our journey. We have pictures which I will post under photos if you care to look but they do not do justice to that which we saw with our own eyes. We first walked several miles along the beautiful Potomac river.   See photo of the great Blue Heron we saw. Many turtles were sitting on logs in the stream on the other side of our pathway.   At about 3 1/2 mies came something hikers call "the shoot." It consists of a climb of 1000 feet from about 250 elevation to 1250 elevation in a little over a mile and a half. Part way up is a blue blaze trail.5 mile loop trail to a stupendous lookout called Weverton Cliffs. The view was unbelievable. I guess the great thing about the long climb other than that side trip view was the deep foot massage given by the many medium to large sharp rocks on the trail. We also enjoyed seeing 4 deer. I have wondered why the Appalachian Trail is called the root canal if the three National long distance trails, PCT, CDT, and AT (Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, and the Appalachian Trail).   We had a peep of understanding today.At about mile 6 1/4 the trail evened out and we were soon at our shelter with plenty of time to hang our hammocks, eat our dinner, and then hang up the bear bag before going to bed at 7PM.   The rest of the hikers were quiet by 8, hikers midnight and I could hear Bob begin to snore as I was writing this note. He has a more difficult day then I because he took on the job of hiking the.5 miles down 800 ft to the spring to refill our water supply and back up again. It was a big day and we all have another ahead of us. People we met and remember their names are: Whiskers, Velcro, Marginal, Scrapmetal , Danger (whose wife sent him off with delicious dark chocolate brownies filled with pecans, dark chocolate chips, and salted camel chips), Sousi, Bearbag, Wolf, Ziptie, Survivor, and Strider.
Date: 2016-04-19
From: Ed Garvey Shelter 

To: Crampton Gap Shelter
Miles today: 4.2
Weather: overcast clouds

4/19/2016Crampton Gap Shelter1033.6. then about.25 miles off trail and a couple of hundred feet down.Correction on yesterday's post. It was probably more like 400 ft down to the spring but it was very steep and Bob was pretty beat up when he got back up. He related that the trip down was very quiet until he went around the last big rock. At that time he suddenly heard the loud gurgling of the spring. The water came out of a small pipe then into a small pond and back down into the ground, coming out again into another pond about a hundred feet further down and where Bob had the delight of seeing an older fawn deer drinking. Today was practically a gnat free day, yeah. Last night as I was sleeping I thought to myself that if someone did an x-ray of my lungs right then they would see a number of small black spots which I would have to explain as simply the number of gnats I inhaled yesterday. Ha!We woke up today with a glorious sunrise. It took us quite awhile to get away partly due to the knowledge that the next shelter was only 4.2 miles away and the one after that further than we intended to go any one day in our first week. We are determined to take it slowly. Bob discovered the probable reason there were no complaints of mice at that first shelter, a large black snake up in a nearby tree (see photo). We also nearly stepped on his brother a couple of miles up the trail. It was fun watching and listening to him slither away in the dry leaves. We passed the home of George Allred Townsend, pen-name Gath, a famous war correspondent during the Civil War, early biographer of Lincoln, and a prolific writer including a popular romance novel in his day, now largely forgotten.He erected a large arch on his land as a memorial to all the war correspondents and news artists of the day from both sides of the conflict. It is very impressive. Impressive also are the number of battle grounds we pass as we hike.What a sad time in our history!Simple Joy's of the day: The views, the stone couch (see photos), the absence of gnats, the spring water so cool and refreshing, the stop by a State Park bathroom that had cool clean water AND SOAP, and a shelter to ourselves. We are both feeling fine.
Date: 2016-04-20
From: Crampton Gap Shelter

To: Dahlglen BAckpacking Campground
Miles today: 6.7

4/20/2016Dahlgen Backpacking Campground for backpackers only 1040.3. People we met:Headed north started in Springer on Feb: Bones, Will and Roadrunner, Sixty and Sixty Also, and D=RT (pronounced dirt)Fellow flip flop person:   Cookie (from Oak Cliff, TowTruck, Swiss Miss and Sniffles, Tailhook A group from Lancaster Bible College doing a gap study between high school and college to figure out who they are in Christ. The Maryland AT trail to MaineUphill, down, and up againThe rocks remain the same! First fall.   Breather of the Wanna BsAny of you who might have supported this hike of ours as a charity hike, I would consider it a personal favor if you would check out walkingoffthewar.org, and consider supporting Mike in his efforts to raise money for PTSD Warriors. We met this man and I know personally the importance of the cause. At the very least, please check out his website. Thanks!
Date: 2016-04-21
From: Dahlglen BAckpacking Campground

To: Pogo Memorial Campground, MD
Miles today: 9.2
Weather: overcast clouds

4/21/2016 1049.5 elevation 1642Illness is taking Cookie off the trail for a little while. I wish I had gotten her contact information before she left but maybe she will catch up. She lives probably 15 minutes from our house in Dallas. Another section Hiker I would love to know about calls himself Job. As we climbed the many long hills sometimes I would think to myself, "what a fool!". I would say to myself almost out loud, "you can do it, you can do it, one step at a time." Tomorrow is another day. We will need to take it a little easier.Today we put in long miles and we are both feeling it. We had to set up tarps tonight with a good chance of rain coming. It took me forever. This tarp I mistakenly purchased was too expensive, is too heavy, and too complicated to set up. I wish my nice light cat cut Cuban tarp had not failed me.   I may break down and buy myself a lighter one anyway. I have to drop some carry weight. We tried Bob's dehydrated soup. It was not great. We were not able to get it to rehydrate well. We were to tired to eat much anyway.
Date: 2016-04-22
From: Pogo Memorial Campground

To: Raven Rock Shelter, MD
Miles today: 10.2
Weather: overcast clouds

4/22/2016. 1059.11652'I made up a song today with a tune you all know. I will share the words with Harmony and task her with teaching all the cousins. It is about the AT.We went further than we maybe should today but had decided that if we made it a big day today. We would have enough food to make it to Waynesboro tomorrow with a short day... shower, laundry, and resupply and could go to church on Sunday before starting on again. We pushed ourselves hard and over some very tough trail made entirely of boulders and often either steep ups or steep and treacherous downs (see picture but it doesn't trek the full extent). The last climb up to Rock Raven Shelter was a doozy. Yet they tell us that from here to PenMar where we will get off to go to Waynesboro will be rougher yet and will be much like what we will experience for the month or so we spend on Pennsylvania. We are really beat up. This shelter is a new one and is very nice. We got here so late and so tired we decided to sleep on the floor with our thin mats and one quilt below us and one above. I mean we were wiped out. There is no way to explain how difficult this is. There is nothing like it in Texas. We met several nice section hikers along the way. Tow truck was here and a young man who hasn't taken a trail name yet. He claims to have started in Georgia and planning on making it to Katahdin by July 18th. He says he has a sponsor which I know is possible but he sure seemed like a lot of talk. That kept the rest of us quiet.We spent some time hiking and praying, sometimes Bob sings, mostly we watch carefully where we put our feet and desperately try to breathe. It seems I am always trying to catch my breath. This is why I have taken the individual name of Breather. I have given Bob the name Backer because he is so sweet to always have my back. These names may not stick but in our hiking world it is good enough to be known as The Wanna Bs. We always explain our name that we want to be faithful to God, faithful to each other, and faithful to the trail. Everyone we have met seemed to like it.
Date: 2016-04-23
From: Raven Rock Shelter 

To: Waynesboro, PA
Miles today: 4.9
Weather: overcast clouds

4/23/20161064.11212'We lasted about 15 minutes on the floor of the shelter last night before Bob was up figuring out a way to put up our hammocks between the pillars of the porch. We could then actually get to sleep. My drip lines had somehow fallen off so I started feeling a drip on my neck and quickly moved my down wild to safety. It was every bit as difficult today as we had been warned but we did it without a fall and without an injury.We wanted to stay at the bed and breakfast in Waynesboro but it was full. We are at the Days Inn and it seems a good number of other flip floppers.River-rat, Zip-tie, Mike, Morningsomething and Stumblefoot formerly known as Marginal were all here taking a zero. Velcro was here yesterday and Stumblefoot was able to text her to find out if the earring I found at the last shelter was hers as I suspected. It was. She texted back a picture to be sure. I gave it to him as he will more likely be able to catch up to her.We all went to dinner together and the group favored us by finding a place that served breakfast at night. I was hungry for some real eggs.We have looked but haven't yet found a church with an early morning service. We just can't wait till after an 11:00 service and do all our hiking in the heat of the day. I haven't given up. We did our resupply shopping at dollar general to skip four blocks of walking. We had wanted to get a head of lettuce and a ranch packet to eat the first day out and apples and bananas for a beefing snack tonight. Our hikers appetite has kicked in.