morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-10-08
To: Train ride down south, yeehaw!!!
Miles today: 0.0

So here i am at Union Station in D.C. standing in line to board the train to Gainesville, GA when I see a young lady with a pack and trekking poles just a little ahead of me. After shuffling forward a few paces I get close enough to speak to her so i ask her if she's headed for the AT? She answers in the positive, looks at my pack and poles and correctly concludes that I am too. So here we are, two hikers headed for the same terribly frightening and infamous Appalachian Trail probably to meet our doom. However, there's a slight difference between this young lady and myself: her pack is about half the size of mine and needless to say probably a lot lighter. So naturally my next question is something like, "oh, just out for a couple of weeks or so eh?" "No," she's hiking the entire trail she assures me. Well, I am understandably taken aback by her response, but I nevertheless manage to congratulate her in the midst of my awe and admiration. I then resume my task of slowly shuffling down the line, but now with a new preoccupation of mind: how did this person, introduced as Deborah, manage to get her pack so small while I on the other hand am carrying a virtual Volkswagon Buggy that just doesn't seem to get any more comfortable? Hmm.We finally board the train, end up sitting right next to each other and begin an exciting conversation that lasts hours. It was really nice how here I was about to embark on this crazy thing whose magnitude still hasn't quite sunk in even now and out of all the possible people on the train I'm sitting next to someone that's about to do the same. It was awesome. We were like two bright-eyed kids spilling out wave after wave of thoughts and feelings. We talked for hours engaging in various topics until finally Deborah went to sleep. I couldn't, however. I just had too much on my mind. So i just stayed awake for the majority of the rattling ride turning over in my head pretty much the same thoughts all the while effortlessly maintaining what probably appeared to an outside spectator as a pretty silly looking grin.. It was great!
Date: 2004-02-23
To: Different year, different trail
Miles today: 0.0

Well folks, I've decided to pretty much leave this journal alone and to begin on a new journal for the PCT. I've enjoyed writing these entries and may continue to put in an entry here and there, but for the most part the journal will remain the same.All the photos that I took with my digital camera are up and I may scan some that I took on an aps and 35mm camera in the near future.Thanks for joining me on this journal and I hope that you will join me on my new one.
Date: 2003-02-26
To: Springer Dreamin'
Miles today: 0.0

OK, I¢m wanting this so bad I can taste it. Even if it tastes like blood, sweat and tears. I¢ve had AT Fever for over ten years now, and have hiked little bits of the trail on and off since then, always dreaming of the day when I could step foot on Springer as a thru hiker. Well, maybe this will work out to be the year. I¢m a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida, in economics, and I want to be an economics professor. (Please don¢t hold that against me. I promise to refrain from discussing supply and demand if at all possible!) I¢m scheduled to defend my dissertation on April Fools¢ Day (fitting, but my advisors find that just a little too funny). I will also be teaching for six weeks in May/June and graduating in August¢¦ but I haven¢t found a job yet. I¢m waiting for two schools to make up their minds about me, and I have declared to my spouse, family and friends that if I don¢t get a good offer at one of these places, I¢mTHRU-HIKING THE AT THIS YEAR!!!So as Hammock Hanger (see her wonderful journals here on trailjournals) said to me¢¦ do we wish you luck in the job market or not? Good question. Although I am kinda freaking out about not getting the right job offer yet (checking my voicemail and email like 20 times a day, having nasty nightmares almost every night¢¦), I really hope I get this chance to hike. If I do get a job, I won¢t be able to take six months off for at least another 7 or 8 years. There have been enough untimely deaths in the hiking community lately (the husband of Swamp Fox ¢99, a fellow Women Hikers group member; Soleman, whose journal is also here; and Annie of Annie and the Salesman) that I think I need to make this plunge if I can. While I know I can.Time will be very tight for me, if I am to reach the Hiker Holy Grail (Katahdin, that is) by mid-October. It seems anticlimactic somehow not to end the hike there, but if time gets too short I will ¢leapfrog.¢ (This means skip ahead a bit, summit Katahdin, and then come back and fill in the section I skipped.) I¢ll probably be making this decision in the next couple of weeks, when I know something about those jobs... and if it¢s to hike, I¢ll be frantically dehydrating, packing and taking care of last-minute details before I go. So do you wish me luck on the job market? I dunno¢¦ but if you see my journal here, I¢ve already decided to go for a little walk in the woods.Silver Lining
Date: 2003-03-02
To: What are you afraid of?
Miles today: 0.0

TO THE AT:These boots were made for walkin¢And that¢s what they¢re gonna doAnd one of these days these boots are gonnaWalk all over youOK, that was the flash of bravado for the day. As for my fears at this point: I¢m mostly worried about my feet. My doctor even told me recently I don¢t have great feet for long-distance hiking. Thanks, Doc! Yes, I¢m much more worried about my feet than about being eaten by a bear or any of the other terrors some of you are imagining. My number two worry is being cold. I¢m a Floridian, what can I say?I am very lucky to have the support of my wonderful husband, Pete, who will be transcribing this journal for me (I¢m planning to write the entries in a Pocketmail and send them to him, so he can just copy and paste). He will be my ground support as well as my anchor, my sense of home. I will also be missing our black Lab, Max (whose trail name is Black Cloud). She is a great hiker but her ebullient bounding around always translates to sprained wrist or torn paws, and at 9 1/2 she¢s getting a little up there. I believe strongly that only the toughest dogs should be put through a 2,000-mile march. She and Pete will hopefully join me for several weekend hikes along the way.You may notice that I¢m now writing about DOING this, not maybe, not if. I am still waiting to hear from those two jobs, but as time passes I am getting more comfortable with the idea of hiking and less comfortable with the idea of working! I have been busily dehydrating food, and yesterday we went to the Hiker Meccas --- AKA Campmor and Eastern Mountain Sports --- and stocked up on miscellaneous gear and supplies. I¢m almost ready!
Date: 2003-03-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I spent all day yesterday making up my first three mail drops* --- and I mean all day! How could 8 gallon-sized Ziplocs take me all day to pack?? And I still have to get the addresses of the hostels and find three smallish boxes. How is someone who can¢t pack three little boxes in a day supposed to hike 2000 miles??!? But just like I finally got those boxes packed, I plan to finish: one little bit at a time. Besides finishing, what else do I want to get out of this? I want to prove to myself that I can do this. I have no expectations for deep philosophical insights or spiritual revelations or even --- sorry to my dissertation committee --- intellectual eurekas. If these things come, I want to be open to them. Part of what I hope to discover is the patience and the mental stillness to hear those things, if they come to me. But mostly, I just want to prove that I can do this thing, step by step, mile by mile, state by state. And I am looking forward to finding the new friends the trail will bring me.A little more about my hike¢¦ I am calling it "thru hikus interruptus." This makes me think of Wile E. Coyote, whom I love, but I am hoping NOT to have the kind of adventure he always seems to (cut to image of him falling off the very, very tall cliff with a very, very tiny "poof" at the bottom). I have a couple of conferences in late March and I will be teaching a class from mid-May to late June. So I am going to hike from Springer Mountain in Georgia (the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail) to Neels Gap between my conferences. This is a distance of a little more than 30 miles. After my second conference, I¢ll either defend my dissertation or not (having some trouble on that front too), and pick up my hike for the month of April plus a few days. I hope to get to Damascus, VA (or at least as far as Erwin, TN) before I head to Florida to do last minute preparations then teach my class. Then at the end of June, I¢ll be on the trail until I finish it or it finishes me!Silver Lining*Note to those not ¢in the know:¢ a hiker can get supplies by going to stores in towns on or near the trail, and by having things mailed in advance to post offices or hostels along the way. I plan to use a combination of these methods. Mail drops will give me more variety in my food choices (home cooked and dehydrated food, mmmm) and chances to get notes from home (hint, hint!!). Combining these with store stops reduces the load on Pete, who¢ll be sending out the mail drops, and allows me more flexibility.
Date: 2003-03-14
To: Last minute details
Miles today: 0.0

Over the next three days I have to get a million loose ends tied up, like getting a haircut, preparing for my conferences, packing clothes and gear --- for backpacking, conferences and teaching for 6 weeks! --- and deciding what to teach my class! I leave Monday for Florida. My backpack has been all packed up in my car for days!I realized when I posted my photos that it may be confusing to see snow in the pictures, when I say I¢m from Florida. The thing is, Pete lives in New Jersey and I am living part of the time there with him, and part of the time in Gainesville, FL (GO GATORS!!!) to finish up with school. Very confusing, I know. One of these days we may actually live together all the time.It¢s hard to describe how I¢m feeling right now. Most of all, I am overwhelmed --- I¢m so excited and thankful that I have this opportunity! I¢m also a little nervous. I¢ve hiked lots of times for a few nights out, but a month --- and then another 4 or 5 months --- is another thing entire. How homesick will I be? Will my feet hold up? What are my advisors going to say when I break it to them that I¢m getting off the merry-go-round for half a year? Will I get all wound up in my rope trying to bear bag my food, and have to live the rest of my life tied to a tree in a stealth campsite, living off the bugs that fly too close by? Will a bear think I¢m a pi±ata or a yummy burrito hanging in my hammock and eat me up in one big gobble? (OK, I¢m not all that worried about that one ---- really, Mom, the bears DON¢T want to eat people. Just their candy bars.)But the biggest things I¢m feeling are anticipation and impatience --- so many people I know are out there already!!! All I can say is, look out trail, here I come!9 days and counting....
Date: 2003-03-23
From: Springer Mountain

To: Stover Creek Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today was perfect!! --- easy trail, cool weather, plenty of water and a perfect blue sky. This perfect sky is very different from the weather some of my fellow hikers have experienced so far. The people who started last weekend had cold and rain for the whole first four days, and arrived at Neels Gap drenched and shivering. Also, the easy trail is due to the fact that I only walked 3 1/2 miles today!On Springer, I met Wandering Bear, who was climbing Springer to celebrate the 5th anniversary of his thru hike. Very cool. I also met another thru hiker, High Anxiety, and his entourage (5 people who were walking up Springer Mountain to see him off). The local caretaker, Gizmo, was also up there and we had a great conversation.I started my hike at 3:30 in the afternoon and ended up at Stover Creek Shelter. There were several through hikers there --- Nancy, Brent (I think!), Ian, Crystal, Nathan and I'm sure I've forgotten some --- and a man out section hiking with his 10-year-old son. We enjoyed conversation until about 9, when I just had to go to bed! I did get ragged a little because I did not hike the 8 1/2 mile approach trail to Springer, opting instead to hike 0.9 miles from the Forset Service Road parking lot. Hey, isn't 2,170 miles enough???
Date: 2003-03-24
From: Stover Creek Shelter

To: Liss Gap
Miles today: 15.4

Ohhhh, today just kicked my butt.I met many people today. The funniest of these is probably Talksalot, who is named because the man just doesn't talk. Poor thing, he just wants to be left alone, but he and I played leapfrog most of the day. Every single time I would come up on him sitting on a log, he would say, "This looks like a peaceful spot..." the clear implication being "...until you came along!"I hiked all afternoon with Nathan and Sarah, whom we named Blip. At one point in the day, she said, "I looked at the trail profile and we only have one little blip up." Uh-huh. The three of us (especially me) were gasping and wheezing up the "blip," and Nathan and I decided she'd found her name.The mountain that really got me was Sassafras. I got so dizzy going up that sucker that at one point, I was truly afraid I was going to faint. I was seeing stars!I thought to myself, "All that college in these brains... it would be a shame to fall down and splatter them all over these rocks." I hurriedly took my pack off and sat down real fast. After that, much to the chagrin of my hiking partners, I chanted repeatedly (and I do mean over and over): Sassafras can kiss my a**, doo-dah, doo-dahSassafras can kiss my a**, oh doo-dah day.I saw my first snake of the trip, a long skinny garter cutie. I encountered him when Nathan, Blip and I stopped for a long break at Justus Creek to soak our aching feet. Ahhhhh, bliss. I was STARVING all day, good thing we're to Civilization tomorrow. Among the other people I met were a couple named Q (Cue? Queue?) and Jonachi. They were really fun to talk to. They are professional musicians, bluegrass and Irish music. We struggled up a mountain or two together, and I was a little worried about Q. She was having a really hard time. I hope I see them again.I'm having a great time so far, even with Sassafras thrown in there. However, it will be good to see Neels Gap tomorrow!
Date: 2003-03-30
From: Neels Gap

To: Neels Gap
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I went back to Neels Gap this morning to pick up my hike, and it was snowing!! I went into the store and the forecast was for a low of 22* and snow... so I promptly got a bunk in the hostel! When I went in to take my gear in to my bunk, a man heading out said, Oh, you're hanging around here today? and rather disdainfully, Well, I guess everybody should hike their own hike. As if I am going to feel bad about staying in on a day like this!!!Coosa (trail angel extraordinaire) and I drove around to the gaps and quizzed hikers until we narrowed down the locations of Mudbutt and Bumpkin, then we hiked up the trail from Unicoi Gap and found them. After hootin and hollerin a bit, we drove to town and did errands, then checked MB & Bumpkin into the hostel. I hope no one else at the hostel is hoping to get any sleep tonight! I really hope I catch up to them soon... they're about 20 miles ahead of me but I am hoping to catch them in a week or so. We laugh so much when we're together that I am really worried about wetting my pants! (Sorry, Mom!)I also heard from Blip and Switchback today. They're in Hiawassee at a motel already, and Blip wants me to hike with them again so Switchback will ease up on the miles a bit!Must... hike... tomorrow... must... escape... toasty hostel...but that will depend on how much snow we get tonight! More tomorrow, and by the way I'll be filling in the missing entries soon!
Date: 2003-03-31
From: Neels Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: scattered clouds

Am I ever glad I stayed in the hostel last night! Brrrrr!! This morning when I started it was cold enough that I had to drink water every few minutes to keep my hydration tube (kind of like a big straw that goes to my water bag) from freezing solid. There were a couple of inches of snow on the ground up in the higher elevations, and lots of ice on the rocks. This was actually better than when it started to melt, though. Nobody told me the mud would be so slippery!I ended up leaving the hostel at 6 this morning... woke up at 4:30 and just couldn't get back to sleep. I was very sleepy this afternon, so I stopped at Low Gap for water and a nap. Of course, once I did that I didn't want to move!I got to know several interesting people, including Heather and Superman? from Minnesota, Clifford the Big Red Dog from Texas, Jim and Master Gator from Florida, Iron Chef Connnecticut from... well, Connecticut, and Firefeet. I thought there might be a scary story behind her name, but it turns out that her feet just FELT like they were on fire.We all hung around the fire chatting until "hiker midnight" --- 8:30 pm --- and now it's time for this day to be DONE!
Date: 2003-04-01
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Tray Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: clear sky

I reek profoundly, my feet are killing me, and I'm exhausted --- and I couldn't be happier! I made big miles, for me, today. I was hoping to catch Mudbutt and Bumpkin (known in some circles as Bible Totin' Granny) tomorrow, but they left a note for me in the Tray Gap Shelter register. They have the same destination as me for tomorrow! Yay!!! I need to check the mileage, but I think I can stay with them all the way, or almost, to Fontana Dam and get there in time to meet up with Pete.As I was taking a break at Unicoi Gap, Crystal (now NO DOUBT), Brent (now MacGuyver), Q and Jonachi got dropped off there. I was so glad to see them! The last time I saw Q she was having a hard time, but she kicked my butt all the way to Tray today! Speaking of butts, my emulation of Mudbutt continues: today I managed to fall in a spring! If this keeps up, I may win the Mudbutt title! It's reeeeeally windy here. The fly for my hammock is snapping and popping loudly. Somehow I think the noise won't keep me awake, though! Did I mention I'm tired??? :) But thank goodness it's not colder! (It got down to 46, according to my cool new wristwatch thermometer, but I'm toasty warm in my zero degree bag).We had a nice fire and Q played her Irish whistle for us, which was gorgeous. What could be cooler than sitting around a campfire listening to haunting Irish tunes after dinner? (Tonight's menu consisted of a small baggie of trail mix, AKA gorp.. I was just too tired to cook!) Time for bed now, because I want to get to Blueberry Patch Hostel in time to get a bunk --- they only have 7! --- tomorrow.
Date: 2003-04-02
From: Tray Mountain Shelter

To: Hiwassee Holiday Inn Express
Miles today: 10.6

I really pushed today to try to catch up to Bumpkin and Mudbutt. When I arrived at Tray Mountain Shelter, a group I met when they were passing through Shelter hollered at me, "Hey Silver Lining, you're famous! There's a message in the shelter register for you!"I don't know if I have already explained this, but every shelter has a notebook and pen in it. The hikers coming through sign the register, perhaps just with their names, or they may draw pictures, put in poems, or relay news ("mice in this shelter are extra energetic!"). It's also a great way to get messages to people hiking behind you, and is a way for your location to be narrowed down if someone from home needs to find you.)Anyway, Mudbutt and Bumpkin left a message for me there saying they were planning to stay tonight at the Blueberry Patch Hostel near Hiawassee, which was my destination too! I hiked as fast as I could all morning, and caught Mudbutt on the horrible, horible ascent from Addis Gap. I was soooo excited to have caught them!!! The rest of the day was a lot more fun, to say the least! We all got to laughing so hard that we had to stop a few times.We also picked up another hiker, Julia, making us the Fab Four. We decided to head to the Holiday Inn Express, as the siren song of the hot tub was calling us! This was not as easy as it sounds, because Hiawassee is 11 miles from the trail.We asked a couple of people at the parking lot by the trail for a ride, but they took one sniff and ran for their lives. We decided hitching to town was the only way to get there, so we went to the side of the road, but then none of us would stick out our thumbs. Bumpkin and Julia insisted that we start walking to look more pathetic (Mudbutt and I said "Walk? Are you kidding? Didn't we already do that today?" but I'll admit, we got a ride within one minute of starting our dejected limp down the road, thumbs out. A man in a pickup stopped by, and I got up front with him, while the other members of the Fab4 piled in the back with all the packs. This man picks up hikers every day on his way home from work. Finally! My first trail magic from a complete stranger!! We were so grateful for the ride, and I enjoyed chatting with him. However, the back seat ladies were hanging on for dear life as we raced around the mountain turns. Note to self: close eyes when riding through the mountains with a native.Once at the motel, we all showered (I won the dirty feet competition hands down) and headed out to dinner with Hummingbird and Dutch Treat, who live nearby. After dinner, the Fab4 descended on the hot tub with a fury, soaking our aching bodies for a couple of hours before heading off to bed. Life is good!!!