morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-12-31
To: HOME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

         My wife and i are sitting in Virginia, at my friends Jerry & Carols house. They have been my two special trail angels the last two years and they have also been my friends for the last 20 yrs plus. Last year  Jerry picked me up from the trail and i stayed with them for three days. He took me to the airport and my hike in 2009 was over. In 2008 he also picked me up on the BRP and drove me all the way to Warwick RI. My hike in 2008 ended when x-rays found three tears in a tendon in my right knee.                   So Pam and i are here in Va renewing our tradition of celebrating the New Year with Jerry and Carol. When we get home my goals for the next 2 months are to loose 20 lbs. and get up to 14 miles a day. This year i will be starting in Harpers Ferry and hopefully i can at the least finish what i have set out to do the last two years. Both years i made it at least 1/2way. A huge bonus would be to flip flop and hike south from Harpers Ferry to Springer. But i would be happy just to be able to finish the trail one time.          To all that start from Springer GOOD LUCK to you and hope to see you up the trail.                     HAPPY NEW YEAR                                                   LATA.................Southside
Date: 2010-01-02
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

         Hope all had a safe last couple of days. My wife and I stayed with our friends for three days and had a great time. Left for home at 6:00 am, clear skies but the wind was blowing about 30 mph. Half way through Conn. the snow started. It was not enough to slow us down and we were home in 7 hrs.         Sunday Pam and I are going snowshoeing at the Hunt river. It is a small trail/nature area with small ups and downs but for the most part it is pretty flat. If the snow sticks around for awhile i will start to increase my miles and loops. This along with rehab Mon, Wed, Fri,should start to get me in shape.         Since my open heart surgery in Nov. [8wks.ago] i have lost a lot of muscle, and on the bad side i put on a lot fat. No doubt i will drop all this crap, and by april 1st i will be in a lot better shape. Guess when you don't do anything for 2 1/2 months things really go soft fast.          Over rwo years and 2000 miles of hiking my gear is fairly well set. I'm at 27lbs with food & water and that is with my winter gear. Ah but there is a catch, my doctors and nutritionist want me to eat no more than 2000 mg of salt. So now i am trying to come up with a healthier diet. When i get this worked out i will post the new diet.          LATA..........................Southside            .
Date: 2010-01-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today Tug, Pam and I made it out to snow shoe at Heartbreak Trail here in Ri. I love hiking in the snow and on this trail which runs along the Falls River. The trail is very protected so the 14 degree temp and high winds were no problem and I worked up a good sweat. With fresh snowfall the trail seems so new; rocks have disappeared, no roots, ruts or leafs and it is so quiet out there. The fresh snow on the trees is beautiful and the young trees are bent over forming tunnels to walk through.   2 miles in the snow = 1.15 hrs. seemed like we went a lot further. I know that I have to increase my mileage but right now my endurance is on the low side and I have to pause frequently to catch my breath.       Tomorrow I will take Tug and we will shoe at the Hunt River after I attend my cardiac rehab classes and workout.   If you want a great workout and beautiful scenery put on a pair of snowshoes and hit the trail... any trail!         lata, Southside
Date: 2010-01-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Went to rehab and walked a respectable 3 miles. Then I went home picked up Pam & Tugboat. Drove over to the Hunt river and on a bright sunny, calm day we got set to do a 3 mile hike. I put Tug's hiking boots on (he has to wear them in the snow) with out them ice forms in between his toes and after a short while he is not able to walk very well. Before I bought the boots this kept happening and all day long I was thawing his paws. Now he can go as long as the hike takes without a problem and I have found that if I duct tape over the velcro straps that they don't come off.             Anyway to make a long story short our goal was to do a 3 mile loop. Some of it goes through a pine forest, along a small river and through an old gravel strip mine. We found some of the higher ridges had the snow blown off it. In one area there is a 4 maybe 5 acre wild cranberry bog that was frozen over right now so we hiked around since we just didn't want to break off any of the plants. We finished the three miles, and sure did feel good to do 6 miles.             another day down               LATA...........Southside
Date: 2010-01-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

         Went to the Hunt River and snowshoed 3 miles. Some of the things you have to be aware of when you have a dog: One, when he is excited he flys around and once in awhile he will bang into me. He saw a deer today and turned slamming into me knocking me over. Two, when he is in trouble he walks behind me. This leads to him stepping on my snowshoes. This also happend today and down I went.          Now its only been 9 wks since surgery. I learned something thanks to Tugboat. That is that I am going to fall. So one more lesson learned and one remembered. But both are the same. Just get back up and keep going.         So as I keep going I find myself daydreaming. I think about the trail all the time and cant wait until April. It will come up fast, and I am progressing just about the speed I thought I would be at.          LATA......................Southside
Date: 2010-01-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

         Yesterday was a big day and a good day. Started out by doing 3.25 miles on the treadmill. Also started weight training. This will make you laugh: I started with 3 lb dumbells. Thats all they will let me do at this time. Must be the clicking i have going on in my sternum. That and it has only been 9 wks. since they did the surgery.            Also took my dog Tugboat to the Mount Tom trail. Snowshoed about half the total and hiked the rest. in places there is just not enough snow. Did a total of 6 miles- that is a great day. Just hope i am not pushing it too much. But i sure felt good afterward. Total for the day 9.2 miles [don't tell my wife.]         I am breaking in a new pair of hiking boots. Montrail Heliums, nice boot not too much to break in actually. They are a little heavy, and I will change into my Keen Targees when the temps start to rise. But i like the thought of going through Penn. with these on. They seem to have a lot of support and seem like they are one tough boot. Hope tomorow goes this well.         LATA ............................Southside
Date: 2010-01-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

               Cant say i did any long miles, but it was a busy day anyway. Took my wife to work and went to the gym. Started on the treadmill and was soon up to 3.5 mph. That is my top speed so far this year. Went a total of 3.5 miles in 55min. Then I did one hour of weight training; no big weights yet. That will probably start in Feb.               After the gym i picked up Pam and took her to the dentist. She had a tooth implant about 2 years ago and 2 weeks ago the post in the bone failed and started to come out. Not only painful but dangerous. Anyway the surgeon removed the tooth and the implant, did a bone graft and she received 9 stitches. Then we drove to our regular dentist and he put in a bridge. This will stay in for 6-12 monthes.If all goes well she will then have another post and implant done. What a trooper!                  Getting back to me: When i went into the hospital my blood pressure was 112/70. and heart rate was 65bpm resting. Now my blood pressure is 120/75 Pretty good ha! Now here is the catch my heart rate is 90 and that is at rest. The doctor at the gym/training facility gave me a max target rate of 111 bpm not really a lot of range, can't really put my heart to any real test. It is also hard to work up a sweat. Not complaining but I am Just a little bummed out. The rehab people did say they will start to raise the ceiling and that my at rest bpm will go down as i get in better shape. I do have something to look forward to!.               At least the weather has been great, I just wish we had a little more snow. Its hard to Snowshoe in 4 "' of snow.   Well now its off to the gym, then to Mount Tom trail.                        LATA..............................Southside
Date: 2010-01-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

            My training and endurance is getting better and better. Went to the Mount Tom trail with the mind set to do 4 miles. Bright blue sky, lite winds and a well worn trail. It seemed i picked the best day so far to up my miles. As Tug and i banged out the 2 miles and came to the end where you turn around or continue, (turning around you either retrace your steps on a perfectly flat pine forest trail or continue the loop). We continued the loop which goes up to the ridge walk. It is a fairly good ascent up to a granite ridge about 3/4 mile long and what usually takes me 15 mins. took me 55 mins. Slow but i had to keep stopping to let me heart rate come back down. After reaching the end of the ridge it crosses a highway, goes up to a dead flat trail then winds its way back to the parking area. Tug and i did this in 3 hours, its 7.5 miles = 2.5 mph. Great day to hike .               When you get into a good hike you feel like you can go forever. Some times this is good sometimes its not." This was a good time". I thought about all of the things i have to do before i head out. One of them I won't be thinking about is food drops. I did all of that 2 years ago and there just is no need. All the planing trying to figure out where & when just to find that the post office is closed when you arrive. The people you love have enough to do at home with out all the calls to rearrange the drops & take them to the post office. I also found that instead of packing food for 7 days i only had to pack for 2-4 days making my pack lighter. Depending on the towns and where they fall, it cost the same to buy your food from a store in TN. as it does in RI. Also i eliminated bouncing my drops further up the trail. Doing it this way gave me a lot more variety. Oh yeah another bonus is that it cost a lot of money to send boxes. Im not saying its not nice to receive care packages, I just let it be their idea.                LATA.......................Southside
Date: 2010-01-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

            Three months to go, 90 days seems so far away. I know that its not and i have alot of work to do. Today i walked 7 miles on the tread mill. I hate the treadmill no sun, no air, no fun. Its cold here but i love the temps.                           When you have a fresh snow fall you see things you would never see in the summer. All the foot prints, squirrels, mice and other small game. They dig for seeds, grass, berries etc. Then you see fox, coyotes,and once in a while i even see hawks. All the prints show something, you just have to look to see it. It is the real circle of life and it shows up in the snow like a video screen. The best thing is if your real quiet you get to see the real thing right before your eyes. Last year Tugboat and i came up on coyote with a fresh kill rabbit. This year we saw a hawk on the ground with a small mouse in his mouth. AWESOME!                Tomorrow we are going to do the Heartbreak Trail. It is 8 miles long with some pretty good ascents.                                  LATA...........................Southside
Date: 2010-01-12
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

                     Just came back from a 4 hour hike with my dog Tugboat. Started out thinking i would do a 7.5-8 mile trek. The trail i started on is called the Shelter trail. If you do the loop its 7.5 miles. When i came to the split where Shelter goes left.& Breakheart trail goes right, I was feeling pretty good so i went right. Now at that point i had already gone 4 miles. I did not think that the rest of my hike on Breakheart trail was going to be so much longer. After 2.5 hours and 6 more miles i was a little sore and tired.                      The cool thing about Shelter trail, is about half way it goes through an old summer camp. Some of the cabins are still standing. The old main club house is gone but the huge fire place is still standing. I can just picture how cool this place must have been in its hayday. In total i have counted 20 plus buildings. there was probably more.                      Tomorrow i go to the gym and maybe to the trail for a short hike.                         LATA.......................Southside
Date: 2010-01-13
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

            Longer day yesterday than i thought. So today i went for a 3.5 mile walk on the treadmill. Pretty good pace too 3.8 mph. Also went for a 1 hour ride on my road bike, it is in a wind trainer.Kept up my cadence at around 80 which is not too hard to do in my house. Yesterday really kicked my ass, i felt good; but my legs felt like pudding. Tomorrow it is back to the trail.            The Montrail boots i purchased are better than i thought they were going to be. Great support and even better traction. Not one slip on anything ice, roots, rocks.   i have hiked almost 2000 miles on the AT and another 2000 misc trail miles in the last 2 years. 2 years ago i had only 1 or 2 blisters. last year i had blisters so bad on my toes that the ones on my baby toes lifted the toenails off. OOOOOUCH. I don't know why as i had the same boots on from the year before. I hope that the Montrails do me well.                LATA...........................Southside
Date: 2010-01-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

                  I was looking thru some boxes of gear and supplies. Things that i have left over from the last two AT hikes. A box of emergency food bars that I think i will give to the coast guard; 4 alcohol stoves, 1 gas stove. 1 water pump with a brand new replacement filter, bottles for storage, water, gas, 2 ultralite hamocks and a lot of misc stuff like knives, lights, pots that I almost find it impossible to part with. I think when it comes time to get rid of this stuff it will feel like a part of me went with it. A lot of the fun came in the prep of something huge both fun and scary. It was something i had not felt in 35 years. Not since i got out of high school when i went on a 6 week motorcycle trip. In 1973 i rode my bike in almost every state west of the Mississippi river. Only missed two: Ca. & Alaska.   Did Ca a few years later when i did a job in Sanfran. Then i rode the eastern half 2 years later. Today i only have 2 states to ride in Alaska & Maine.                   When i think back to the two motorcycle trips & my two attempts at hiking the AT, I cant think of one thing i would change. I will finish the trail and i will ride in the last two states. But for now i am having a blast prepping for this one.                  Today i went 6 easy miles. At some point i have to increase the intensity of my hikes. Tomorrow i have rehab. and a trip to Shelter Trail for a 7-10 mile hike. My chest is feeling better by the day and even though my friends keep telling me to slow down, my doctors are telling me that i can hike or walk all i want. I wear a heart monitor to watch my heart rate. That is the one thing i have to do. Even the smallest incline can raise it over my limit of 115bpm.                     LATA........................Southside
Date: 2010-01-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

                     Just a short entry today. I gained 22lbs since oct 22nd. 180 to 202 right now. My back pack weighs 10lbs guess that means i am, carrying 32lbs of extra weight. If i lose 20 lbs by April 15th. and carry a 27 pound pack to start the trail it should all be the same total weight that i am at now. Crazy thinking i guess but thats what i have to do.         I can't carry any more than 10 lbs untill i am cleared to do so.                     All i know is i want to start the trail at 180 lbs. with a 27lb pack i will be at a combined wt. of 207lbs. [O my poor feet.].   By the time i finish the trail i will be somewhere around 165-170 lbs. The same weight when i got married. Why do i think of this crazy crap? Because thats all hikers do when they hike, is think, and dream.                     LATA..........................Southside
Date: 2010-01-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

                     Just came back from a nice little walk in the woods. Temp 48: felt like 60 so within a few minutes i was down to a tee shirt and a wind fleece. Tug my dog had a great hike i thought he would be crazy. But this day he was totally under control. Yesterday I did 3.5 on the treadmill, and 6 at the Hunt river. For a total of 9.5 miles for the day. Today i went for a 6 mile hike back at the Hunt.                      Tomorrow i am taking the day off.   MAYBE         just depends on my legs and the weather. We are suppose to get 2" of rain if that happens its off to the movies.                        LATA.........................Southside
Date: 2010-01-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

            Well i said i was going to take Sunday off, and thats just what i did. Went to the movies with my wife. We saw Sherlock Holmes movie. I thought it was just OK.             Monday i went to rehab did 3.5 miles on the treadmill in 56 min. Had the machine set at 3.8 mph. I was going to go for a hike but the rain said no you're not. So i didnt. When i got home i tried to open up the internet but nothing was working. So i called verizon and two hours later we came to the conclusion that it was broke. Pam came home 10 min later said i smell something burning. So i ran downstairs into the basement. Sure enough the box had started to melt. They were here this morning at 8:00 am. You dont know how much you miss something until it's gone.             Going to the trail at 1:00 hoping to to do at least a 6 mile hike. It felt good taking off Sunday. I have three months to get in hiking shape. Already lost 8lbs so i think my goal of starting the trail at 181-185 is going to be easy.            LATA..........................Southside
Date: 2010-01-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

      Never made it to the trail yesterday. Good reason though RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. But whats nice about that is i can just stay in Nice and dry. Waited untill 5 pm then i jumped on the tread mill. Walked a total of 6 miles in 1.45 hrs. Alternated from flat to 10% grade and back. Its amazing how much harder you work going up. I know that when i am hiking i much prefer ascending then descending. The knees take a beating on the downs. And the ups just drain you physically, then you quickly recover and on you go. But the KNEES, if you dont take care of them they will stop your hike.         Two years ago i set a bunch of goals. Now that i look back on it i wish i would have just slowed down and taken each day as it comes. Some of the goals i set were.                                 1. Finish the AT>                                 2. Finish before july 20th                                    3. Due at least 40- 20mile days                                    4. Take less then 10 zero days                                    5. Do at least 1- 30 mile day         This year i have one goal: That is to start on april 12th and go as far as i can. If i finish then i will grab my wife and the sign on top of Katahdin and kiss them both. To say that i Love both is an understatement, one i have known 32years and the other i have not yet met. But i know i love them both. So north i go.            LATA...................Southside
Date: 2010-01-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

            Went to gym and did 3.5 miles in 1 hour. Afterwards i did 1 hour of weight training. They bumped me up to 5 lb dumbbells. The trainer wont let me do any more than that nor do i want to. I figure in a month or two i will be pushing a lot more weight.             After the gym i picked up Tug and went to the Hunt River for a 6.5 mile hike. Did not happen! There is a gun range about 3 miles away. Mostly the police and troopers use it. Well whatever they were using was big. Scared the crap out of Tugboat. When we came to the split in the trail i went left and he turned right. He had enough and he was going back to the truck. There was no stopping him either, no matter what i said or did he was DONE. "Now" i can run my lawn mower 2 inches from him and he wont flinch. But a gun shot and he's done, weird.                So for the day i went 7 miles and thats all right. I was a little tired anyway. Today we will try to get in 7-9 miles.         82 days left.               LATA.....................Southside
Date: 2010-01-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

                  Does anybody out there have a solution for my dog Tugboat? He is terrified of gun shots. Even the ones that are miles away. The bad thing is all of the trails are in the same spots as the firing ranges. Yesterday i did 4 miles on the treadmill. Then we went back to the Hunt river. Half way around our 3 mile loop the gun fire started. He was so scared that in the end i literally had to drag him. Then as soon as he knew he was headed back to the truck" bam" he was gone. I love hiking with him i just dont have a clue what to do.                     Off to the gym then shelter trail trail for a 8 mile hike.                     LATA.......................Southside
Date: 2010-01-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

                  Yesterday was a good day overall. Started the day going to the gym for a 3.7 mile walk at 3.9mph then went home picked up Tugboat and drove 20 miles to another trail. Thought of doing a 8 mile hike on Shelter trail. I parked the truck geared up and let Tug out. Within 1 min. we hear gun shots! You have to be kidding me, 20 miles and the same thing, "Tug was done" shaking like a leaf, i open the door and in a flash he jumps in. So i drove to another trail but Tug wasnt coming out of the truck. i drove back home, dropped off Tug, and went to the Hunt river. The amazing thing is not one gun shot from the firing range. Poor Tug he just cant win.    So today i went 2 loops for a total of 6 miles on the trail and 3.7 on the treadmill= 9.7 miles. Last year i would see at least 1 or 2 hikers everyday. This year i have not seen one. Pretty lonely out here, and quiet except for all the gun fire.                     Tomorrow i am going to head out at 6:00 am with Tug. Maybe we will catch a break and complete our walk before the boys with guns come out. I have a plan to help Tug and if it works i will put it in my next journal. 80 days to go and my weight is at 197; down 10 lbs. Things are coming together very nicely.                        LATA.........................Southside