morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-12-05
To: Try Mountain to Hogpen Gap Neels gap hostel 
Miles today: 19.3
Weather: clear sky

Matt's Entry: Jesus. Well, first I have to say I am SO GLAD to be caught up on my journal. I enjoy journaling, but I am not good at doing it each day. It¢s like a chore or something. It¢s late ¢ 11:30 pm ¢ and I am FINALLY caught up. Not sure if I will be continuing this or not, maybe not.Well, here we are. I guess we have something like 37.1 miles left. That¢s it! All day I have been thinking about what it means for this trip to be over. House. Dog. Home. Family visits. We have been planning and saving for this for so long, and now the trip is about to be over. And we are in a good space. I tentatively have a job to go back to. And we are under budget by a little for the trip, and we get to have some of the things we are wanting and have been planning for. We are planning on starting a family. It¢s all surreal and exciting too. I¢m not really sure how this has changed me, but I know it has. Seth and Becca hopefully will remain friends, and I hope to also contact other hikers I/we have met and keep in contact. Paul and I talked today. He said he is planning a trip to Glacier this summer. He said I¢ve missed lots and I¢ve missed nothing. I guess he¢s probably right. Family will be the same and different, as will our friends. But what I have learned is that I LOVE being OUT. IN IT. I need to keep that somehow. I like the idea of buying property that we can play on. Do what we love ¢ anytime. I hope that works out.Anyways, the hostel here is just ok . We lightened up on food for the next day and a half and are trying to dry out clothes. My sleeping bag was damp from this AM. Man, I did dry out my clothes last night though. This AM everything was frozen. Bear bag line to the branch it was hung out ¢ EVERTHYING. It was so cool walking through the trees with all the ice on it. We made the decition to stay here tonight ¢ one last trail hostel and get a ride back out tomorrow at 7. I guess there is bfast here early which means I need to get sleep.
Date: 2008-12-06
From: Hogpen Gap

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Kate's entry: Dang. Last night out. I have mixed emotions - so excited to be done, but sooo sad too. We woke up this morning to Pirate's breakfast - bagels, muffins, cornbread, fruit, coffee, etc. Delicious - didn't expect all that. I had a hard time sleeping last night - I was so excited. Second to last day. Our shuttle guy was there at 7 am and we quickly slacked back to Neels Gap - 7 miles in 2.5 hours. Checked outg the outfitters - got lunch, chit chatted. Then up Blood Mountain. It was a beautiful day and there were great views. We could see downtown Atlanta from the top. Beautiful.We pushed hard - 22 miles. Made a leisurely dinner. All day today people were congratulating us. ican't blieve we're here....2 and a half years ago, this whole trip was a dream...6 months ago it became a reality, and now it's coming to an end. I'm glad to be almost done - my body is tired. It's been an incredible adventure - and we've done it (or will tomorrow). I can't believe we've walked this far and can't believe we've done all we've done. So many blessings to be thankful for.
Date: 2008-12-07
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: SPRINGER MOUNTAIN
Miles today: 15.1
Weather: clear sky

Matt's entry: Of all the "Big Days" of my life, it feels like somehow, today is one "Big Day" that will stand out amont others, even though right now I am almost numb. I feel excited or maybe happy is more like it, to be done. We haven't zeroed in maybe 2 weeks, so maybe it's just that my body needs a rest.I'm physically tired, but mentally and emotionally I am not sure how I feel. Today started out normally enough - I woke up at 3:30 and it was cold, and I didn't want to get up to use the bathroom, so I just went back to sleep. Kate and Seth and Becca started moving at about 6 and we just laid in bed and giggled for half an hour or so. Then we did all of the usual things: cooked breakfast (coffee, tea, oatmeal and nutrigrain bars).It was cold. The wind, which had been blowing hard all night, made walking miserable. The terrain was difficult and cold. The trails were well maintained. The sky was clear and the sun was out, so when the wind stopped at about 11 am, walking became much more pleasant. The temp was about 30 so our water still froze in our bottles, but not all of the way through. It was just slushy.The afternoon was pretty surreal. After "3 forks", it was easy-peasy hiking up to Springer. We sang along the way and visited a bit. I think we were all in disbelief. When we arrived at the parking lot where MaryJo, Wally and Seth and Becca's family were waiting, there was cheering. Then, we started the last mile. It seemed to last forever. Kate and I held hands for the last .2 or so. When we finally reached the summit (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Sorry it was the "secret word"), there was a banner that had our trailnames on it (I later found out that MaryJo made it). It was really cool. There was champagne and calling parents and all of that. It was wild. There was lots of picture taking. Lots of picture taking. After all of that, we walked down to the shelter to show the family what it was like. Then, we hiked back down the hill to the cars. It flew by. I was amazed at how close it felt. We went to the visitor center at the park (after taking a wrong turn of course) and we were SOBOS #64 and #65. Not bad.It was off to the Lodge. MJ and Wally got us an awesome room with a super view and we showered and then went down for dinner. After that we went down to the fireplace and hungout for probably 1/2 hour before we had to crash. The crown of the day was when MJ and Wally gave us a cool numbered print of a painting of neels gap that both Kate and I were eyeing up but didn't buy. We hadn't even talked about it, which made it beter.Now What? I guess that's the big question. There's a sying on the AT - You can take the hiker off the trail, but you can't the trail off the hiker. I guess it's true - I know it's left an indellible mark. I don't know how that will all play out, but it's part of the next adventure I guess.But there is one thing I DO know. This trip is living proof that if you work hard, you can whatever you want to. No matter what the heck anyone else says. AND, it's fun to have a good partner to do it with.
Date: 2008-04-30
To: Prep #1
Miles today: 0.0

Hello and welcome to Jay and Mary's Appalachian Trail journal! We are planning to thru-hike the trail beginning July 1st in Maine. A little bit about us... We were married last September after 3 years together. We met as Resident Advisors at Purdue University, and then moved out to Salt Lake City after graduating. Mary is a pharmacist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She grew up in Traverse City, MI and was a All-Big Ten soccer player at Purdue. She enjoys playing soccer, hiking, and kicking Jay's butt in random and irrelevant sports like thumb wrestling and futbol. Jay is a recruiter for a health care staffing company. He grew up around the world, but claims Battle Creek, MI as hometown. Jay likes reading, hiking, and playing the few sports that he's actually better than Mary at (football, basketball if she doesn't break his ankles). He's a former Marine Scout-Sniper and has really started to enjoy the outdoors now that he gets to use a tent. We started talking about the Trail not long after we started dating and got progressively more serious after doing a couple state high points located along it (Mt. Rogers and Clingman's Dome). Last year we made the final decision to do the Trail before we were more "settled" and started the local Utah tradition of firing out babies at the rapid rate. *Mary's Note-Since Jay is doing most of the journal entries, feel free to disregard random military verbiage. I do. Paying attention only encourages him. On a more serious note, we are hiking the Trail also to benefit a great cause, the Wounded Warrior Project. The WWP supports our veterans in their time of greatest need. It is an organization that deserves, and has earned, America's support. We are specifically supporting the WWP's Outdoor Program, which aids in returning wounded veterans to the joys of nature. The link to our donation page is located on our left navigation bar. All funds go directly to the WWP and this same page can be reached through their website in the events calendar for July 1st. Thank you!
Date: 2008-05-01
To: Prep #2
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay:We made the final big decision yesterday on which storage place for all of our stuff when we're gone. Sometimes I think we don't realize how many things we have going on in life until we have to put it all on hold for several months. Fortunately, I'll be wrapping up work next week and be able to concentrate on making sure we're ready to get this thing in gear while Mary wraps up her residency at Huntsman Cancer Institute. We'd like to get a good day-hike in this weekend with our packs well-laden. Great thing about living in Salt Lake City, finding a mountain to train on isn't exactly a tough task. Next weekend we'll do a weekend trip to do some more gear shakedown and start making those decisions on which pieces of kit we can do without. It can be difficult for me to overcome the "MORE is more" camp that I trained in the Corps. We'll see... Speaking of, I added some items to the "Our Gear" section.
Date: 2008-05-02
To: Prep #3
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: So we just received the last of our Appalachian Trail maps. Most of you are probably thinking, "Jay, you're about to walk on a wide, continuous footpath marked with thousands of bright white blazes, why exactly do you need (and waste good money on) detailed topographical maps?" There's actually a decent reason for this: I freaking love maps. I love how they look, I love how they feel, I even love how they smell. I think I've loved maps since my Dad (a fellow cartophile) let me "navigate" on our cross-country trip when I was 10. How much navigating it took to keep the Crown Victoria station wagon on I-40 for 2,000 miles, I'm not sure, but I managed to guide us there. Add this to the constant requirement to know your position on a topo map within 100 yards at all times in a sniper team, and Jay has full-fledged O.C.D. for these little green and brown wonders. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be getting up plenty of funny looks from my fellow hikers as I carefully plot my way down a broad, well-marked path with my unnecessarily detailed topo map. Deal with it, these things make me happy. Poor Mary...
Date: 2008-05-04
To: Prep #4
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: Mary and I were able to get a nice little hike in this afternoon after Mary wrapped up work. We did a section of a nearby trail in the Wasatch's called Desolation Trail (much prettier than the name would suggest). Our packs were loaded about 5 lbs. below the weight we're hoping to hit the trail with. We only did 5 miles round-trip, necessitated by our ~5:15 PM start and the large amount of snow we still have in the mountains here (as you can see in the picture). Lots of slipping and crunching down through a few feet of hard white stuff. This slowed us down significantly and we made it back to the car right before dark. It was still a really nice little trek on a beautiful Utah evening. This was our first time hiking this year with the big packs on and I felt we fared just fine, so next weekend we'll up the difficulty a bit and spend Friday and Saturday nights out, and get good miles in Sat. and Sun (around 40 total). We're going to Antelope Island State Park, which is one of the few local areas with elevation gain that's not completely buried in snow.
Date: 2008-05-09
To: Prep #5
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: So we had a change in plans for this weekend. Instead of hiking at Antelope Island State Park near SLC, we're headed south to Capital Reef NP to hike a canyon called Lower Muley Twist (no joke). Antelope Island was not going to allow us to backcountry camp and everywhere else up here in N. Utah is still covered in white stuff. Biggest goal for this trip is to get a good feel for our packs fully loaded while pumping out at least 15 miles on Saturday and Sunday. There is supposed to be some great scenery on this hike, and Southern Utah rarely disappoints. I'll give a rundown on how it all went on Monday. Quote of the day: "Would you say I had a plethora of pinatas?" -El Guapo
Date: 2008-05-14
To: Prep #6
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: Last weekend's shakedown hike went pretty well. We drove down to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Friday night after and ended up car camping about 50 yards off the road when we got there around midnight. Saturday morning we finished the drive to the Lower Muley Twist Canyon trailhead and were hiking by 9:30 or so. The trail follows the dry creekbed at the bottom of a beautiful canyon for a 24 mile roundtrip. The trail is not particularly steep or grueling in itself, but there were a couple factors that slowed us down, the biggest being a nice little blazing sun. We were cruising right along for the most of the day until the heat tab in the sky started cooking the bottom of the canyon and the critters inside (2 hiking fools and 1 billion lizards). Anyway, we stopped around the 18 mile mark for the night, cooked up din-din and crashed out before it was dark. In the morning we did our pack up and finished the last 6 miles of the hike before the long drive home.Highs of the trip: 1. Solitude-we saw 1 other person in two days, about 2 miles before the end of the hike. There's not too many other places in the world you can have a whole section of a national park to yourself for a weekend.2. The always consistent Southern Utah beauty. Sheer red rock cliffs hundreds of feet tall on both sides and deep alcoves too grand to even take pictures of.3. Good training!Lows of the trip:1. We got smoked by the sun and have redder faces than the Patriots this week.
Date: 2008-05-16
To: Prep #7
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: This weekend we're headed out into the woop woop (as the Aussies would call it) again. A little more low-key this time around though, as we'll be car-camping with some of our friends here about 45 minutes from Salt Lake City. We're wishing a fond farewell to a good friend who is moving back to South Dakota in just a couple of weeks, and just figured that a few days hiking, playing cards, and kicking back a few cold ones is a great way to send someone off. We'll miss you Neal!Mary and I are hoping to get at least one decent hike in on Saturday with our packs around their A.T. weight. Then Sunday we'll head to Snowbird Ski Resort for one more day carving up the slopes! Pretty awesome that it will be in the mid-80's this weekend in SLC and you can be snowboarding 30 minutes away.Have a great weekend everyone!
Date: 2008-05-23
To: Prep #8
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: We're flying to Alaska tonight for a 4 day excursion. Neither Mary nor I have ever been to Alaska, so we're real excited for the experience. Our plan is to spend two days camping and hiking in Denali National Park and then head down to Kenai Fjords NP for a boat tour of the fjords and glaciers.The big Thank You goes to my parents, as they're funding this little trip. What an awesome wedding present! My parents joked that since they was responsible for getting me to the first 49 states, they felt obligated to get me to the last one.I can get some great bear wrestling practice up there and if I can take down a few Alaskan grizzlies the black bears on the A.T. should be a piece of cake to tame!
Date: 2008-05-31
To: Prep #9
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: Alaska...wow. WOW. Mary and I spent a couple days tooling around Denali National Park and did a boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park. We had an absolute blast and got to see quite a bit of wildlife. Grizzlies, caribou, moose, orcas, humpback whales, and sea lions to name just a few.With that little trip wrapped up, our focus is now 100% on the AT. We'll be starting to move our stuff into storage in two weeks and sending out some mail drops within a week.
Date: 2008-06-13
To: Prep #10
Miles today: 0.0

From Mary: So Jay has been bugging me to write something for our trail journal¢¦ so here I am. With all the business of our incredible trip to Alaska, the wonderful visit of our nephew Gibson, and work, I have had very little time to think about the trail. I have let Jay do most the planning. This last week though, I have spent a good deal of time working on elements of our drop boxes and it is all becoming ¢real¢ (and if you know anything about me and food, you know that food preparation is of the utmost importance). We are really going to do this thing! I¢ve been trying to wrap things up at work and keep my preoccupation to a minimum. I must admit it¢s difficult. It¢s funny how each time you are about to move onto something new you feel like you are more ready than you¢ve ever been. Again, if you know anything about us pharmacist-types you know that we love to be organized, so packing up all your possessions into labeled boxes is just part of the fun. This is going to be a great adventure, and I couldn¢t think of anyone more special to share it with.
Date: 2008-06-17
To: Prep #11
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: Well sports fans, it's starting to get down to it. Mare-bear and I have started moving our stuff into storage, keeping just the essentials until our last day. He's our basic itinerary for those interested in these sorts of things:6/29-12:06 AM Fly to NYC (still trying to get Mary to spring for 1st Class, not liking my odds)6/29-9:55 AM Fly to Bangor (my boy Darren says that the Sea Dog Brewery there is pretty good, so we'll hit that up until...)6/29-6:30 PM Board bus to Medway, ME6/29-7:40 PM Get picked up by AT Lodge shuttle in Medway to go to Lodge at Millinocket.6/30-AM AT Lodge shuttle to Baxter State Park to climb Katahdin and start this little soiree.tick tick tick...
Date: 2008-06-27
To: Prep #12
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: A couple more days 'til go-time. A huge thank-you to my Mom,who will be transcribing my longhand journal that I will be mailing to her from the Trail. Mary and I are really pumped up for this bad boy, and are chomping at the bit to get out there. Of course, if we weren't, we'd probably be in trouble!Our packs are packed (generally), and I'm pretty pleased with the weight. With all 100-Mile Wilderness food and 1 full camelbak, my pack comes in at ~32 lbs, Mary's at ~25 lbs. I'll take it.So now it's just get the remaining apartment stuff in storage and pop smoke for extract. Oh, I also need to drink the rest of our beer. I'll jump on that hand grenade tomorrow! This will probably be the last journal entry for about a couple weeks. Send positive thoughts!!
Date: 2008-06-29
To: Introducing...Susan
Miles today: 0.0

Hi, I am Susan, Jay's mom and the person who will be logging Jay and Mary's exploits on their long, long Appalachian Trail hike. Jay and Mary arrived in Bangor, Maine on June 29th after a red-eye flight from Salt Lake City. They checked into a lodge near their starting point and took a shuttle at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, June 30 to begin their long trek from Maine to Georgia. The weather forecast for Maine this week does not look very favorable (rain) and with the horrible mosquitoe population in Michigan this year I can just imagine what it must be like in the deep woods of Maine. However, I am sure they are very prepared for anything and Jay had mentioned some mosquito netting he had obtained from a military surplus store or their hats. Hopefully they haven't been attacked and carried away by gigantic mosquitoes. We wish them Godspeed and good luck. I just wish I was young enough and in their shape to do what they are doing. By the way, I want to thank my Bunko buddies for their generous donations to the Wounded Warriors which is Jay and Mary's charity for their trek!!
Date: 2008-06-30
To: Thru Hikers Eve
Miles today: 0.0

From Jay: Mary & I are now comfortably settled at the AT Lodge in Millinocket, in the shadow of Katahdin. That is, if Katahdin could cast a shadow in the constant drizzle haze. Our travels from Salt Lake City went well, but mostly it was "hurry up and wait"Big thanks to Devin for helping us move the big stuff out of our apartment and getting us on the figurative road.Tomorrow we are headed up Katahdin, bright and early after breakfast. Then it is on the 100-mile Wilderness, which we hope to clear in about seven days.
Date: 2008-06-30
From: Katahdin

To: Katahdin Stream Camp Ground
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: broken clouds

Mary: After a shuttle ride from the AT Lodge in Millinocket we arrived at Katahdin Stream Campground, the official AT registry and the starting point for our big adventure. We swapped our packs for some not so gently used (aka stinky) day packs and were on our way on a five mile hike to reach the beginning of the AT. And what a five mile hike it was! 4,000 vertical feet and half a day later, we reached the summit. I kissed the first blaze and snapped some photos. It felt like we were at the end of some glorious hike...but we were only just beginning. In other news, Katahdin marks the 23rd state highpoint that we have reached together. The hike down from the summit was challenging, and we lost some of the fellow hikers that had climbed up with us that morning. All in all we count six other people besides ourselves who "started the trail" today. Jay is already snoring away next to me as I write this so I better turn in too. The day ended with some laughs, a new high point and many more stories to come.
Date: 2008-07-01
From: Katahdin Stream Campground

To: Hurd Brook Lean-to
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: scattered clouds

Jay: Today was a day of "FIRSTS." It was our first full day heading south on the trail, our first day in the "100 mile wilderness," our first forded stream, first (and second) moose sighting, and the first time Mary tried to strangle me with a camelback hose and leave me for dead.We're already beginning to make some friends amongst our fellow hikers, but there is definitely a "feeling out" process with that. Today we hiked with a newbie SOBO'er named Mike for most of the day until he had to call it a day due to some wicked blisters. I doubt that is the last we will see of him, as he seems to be a strong hiker. We are sharing the lean-to area with two other SOBO'ers from Pennsylvania, a Brit who is hiking as much trail as he can in three months, and two ohter hikers who seem to feel the need to fill up a "six person lean-to."As for the actual hiking today, it was basically flat with some little ups and downs along river banks. We are sleeping in the tent with no rain-fly on due to bright blue skies. Hopefully we don't wake up to a monsoon at 3:00 a.m. Oh yeah, the mosquitoes sucked today. Go figure.Song of the day: "I believe in a Thing Called Love." - The Darkness
Date: 2008-07-02
From: Hurd Brook Lean-to

To: Crescent Pond
Miles today: 15.6

Jay & Mary: Pushed ourselves a little further today, and Maine pushed back some too. Our feet a bit on the sore side and the mosquitoes of the region are sleeping well tonight with full bellies. Mary's experiment with capri spandex pants ended in disaster since the mosquitoes were not impressed with her defenses. On the other hand, one of Jay's old Marine Corps pieces of kit, the bug headnet, debuted with great success. Question is: Will Mary ever take hers off?The trail today was mostly flat & very muddy. We did get some great views from the top of Rainbow Ledges of Katahdin. Our campsite is also great. We are off by ourselves and were able to have a small fire while we ate dinner. We have been lucky thus far on the weather front, however, the thunder we are currently hearing in the distance may mean that fortune is about to turn sour. Oh well,"if is ain't raining, we ain't training (or hiking the AT)."