morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-01-14
To: The true food bag.
Miles today: 0.0

We hang it in trees at night. Suspend it on provided cables or hoist it up on what looks like giant broken umbrella spokes. Out west, hikers put it in combat hardened capsules on the ground so that it might be used for midnight soccer amongst their midnight wild trail mates. We talk about it constantly and think about it continuously. Our journals are filled with mentions of it and our town stops are dominated by it. Experts warn us and guide books remind us to enjoy it anywhere OTHER than where we sleep. ¢It¢ is obviously food glorious food.But have we overlooked something here ¢ a simple fact that¢s hidden in plain sight? Does not our adventure take us into a wild land where we turn into it?Does not Ursus Americanus look at our deep purple sleeping bag laying harmlessly save for that ever so slight movement of breathing and not think ¢Mmm, grape!¢Even though our food is hung, isn¢t the true food bag actually us in a mummy? And wouldn¢t our growing ripeness as the days stack up be even more appealing ¢ doesn¢t our gaminess make us fair game to the creatures whose world we intrude upon? It makes me ponder that even larger question, ¢Do I taste like chicken?¢ I¢m pretty confident I don¢t taste like energy bar.It seems that a nice strategic spot near the trail for these beasts wouldn¢t be too dissimilar from Lucy working that candy factory conveyer-belt. Maybe that¢s how some of us make it to Maine? The lions, bears and Bigfoot¢s just get too stuffed with the early adventurers to eat another thing. Once, during a talk on mountain lions, the Park Ranger answered the question of how often do they eat by replying, ¢They need something big every ten days.¢ It didn¢t escape me he said ¢something.¢ ¢ Hmm, lovely. Or should I say, Mmm? Does dinner time at The Three Bears house start with the discouraging whine of ¢Mom, Not hiker again?¢ Maybe a craving for Mexican food really means dining on someone from Mexico?And we all know how well armed we are out there. My knife blade is a staggering 1 3/8¢s inches long ¢ so hand-to-paw combat doesn¢t seem too practical. Only a block of cheese quivers at the sight of my mighty blade. One of my dilemmas for this hike will be my Gatorade tricked up water I drink throughout the night. I derive much of my daily energy from this concoction and habit sees me drinking it always, even at night. Will my sugary adult Kool-aid make me all the more desirable to our midnight marauders? Some of the thru-hiking pranksters feel it¢s a hoot to sneak a stone into other hikers backpacks. I feel it¢s far more devious to dribble some honey on others tent, that way if there is a visitor with a midnight craving it¢s a good bet who will get to greet them. There¢s never a shortage of silliness out on the trail. Some we make and some we become. It all makes for a joyful journey ¢ it's the stuff we feed off of.
Date: 2010-01-16
To: Springer Mt. Fever
Miles today: 0.0

Going on a thru-hike is always a marvelous idea, but the timing isn¢t always practical. Going for a hike on the other hand is a practical idea that¢s always marvelous. All across the country, a certain few are feeling that itch (aren¢t you?) The deeper the dog days of winter settle in the more scratching fails to suppress this malaise. An inner burning has our cheeks flush and our legs antsy with anxiety that come from a lack of miles ¢ it brings new meaning to Restless Leg Syndrome. One finds their mind unable to focus on ordinary responsibilities, our thoughts wander to topics of ¢How much longer till the trees start to bud?¢ or ¢Will it be a dry season or a wet?¢ It consumes our daily routines ¢ and no lime in the coconut will makes us feel better. Maybe dealing with the H1N1 flu would be easier? For a handful of us across this great big land, the malady that attacks us to our core is Springer Mountain Fever (SMF).Actually, I¢ve contracted this SMF infection every year at the same time of the season for five years now, or is it six? As an repeat SMF sufferer, I¢ve discovered no ointment, elixir or pill to help. The vast sums of money donated to SMF research have proven useless ¢ although sleeping in a tent in the backyard does seem to reduce the angst. For me personally, I¢ve found the anxiety and discomfort continues to advance within me until I reach my wits end and scream in surrender ¢Ok Ok, enough already ¢ I¢ll go to Georgia!¢ Only then do I start to feel a modicum of true relief. Although this won¢t be a thru-hike year for me, I hope going out for a longgg section, making a few miles, seeing a few mountains, meeting some more wonderful people and drawing a few more pictures of life on the trail will keep these unsightly hives from spreading. ¢Damn this itch!¢So there it is, another pre-hike postcard from Postcard.
Date: 2010-01-16
To: Watching our weight.
Miles today: 0.0

I just spent the better part of an hour using my hand-held hole-punch on my Croc¢s. Now before any of you non-hikers report me to the Humane Society, Croc¢s, as we hikers know are camp shoes made of foam. When they came onto the market about five years ago, they were a big hit since they weigh so little as well as offering a better alternative to flip-flops.Flip-flops are a flop with my toes since my little piggies are spaced out like that of a thumb and forefinger. Now before any of you report me to Ripley¢s, believe it or not my feet do look normal by any sense of the measure. It¢s just a flip-flop loses in a head to head (or foot to foot as the case may be) competition with my feet. Besides, I like my tender toes shielded from harm, I¢ve broken three when uncovered on swimming pool steps ¢ knew I should have waded in with my shoes on. However, we long distance hikers who have gone over the edge when it comes to thinking of new ways to not carry stuff, even a foamy Croc gets our attention. Mine are a size 11 and weigh in at 6.35 ounces each. For those who have misplaced their calculators ever since high school algebra, that¢s 12.7 ounces.Crocs fresh from the factory have 13 unlucky holes on the top, a few slots on the sides and lots of solid foam makes up the remaining 95%. By taking an ordinary hand-held hole-puncher (not to be confused with a Cow Puncher), one may easily punch a 14th or 15th hole in them. Of course where there¢s a way to lighten one¢s load this easily, there¢s a will to get punchy.My right foot Croc now sports 219 holes, the left has 221 ¢ this means the right will be a tad heavier. This weight disparity could prove problematic as it may result in a rightward drift. Since I can¢t squeeze another hole into the heavier righty, I may need to carry my pocket knife in my left pocket to regain a balanced stride around camp. If one were to hike with these unbalanced Crocs, over the distance of my 1000-mile hike one could end up in the Atlantic Ocean rather than Harpers Ferry ¢ Awkward.What does 440 holes of air give you other than holey slippers? Croc¢s that now weigh in at 12 ounces combined ¢ a savings of .7 ounces. Yep, a whole half-ounce saved every time I pick up my legs! Now before any of you report me to the Excessive Compulsive Society, in my defense I¢d like to¢¦hmm, I suppose there is no defense. I clearly either need to get a life or get hiking soon. (Just got an email from France, seems those see-and-be-seen fashion types from Prada Shoes want me to consult for them on next years Paris runway collection after eyeing my Croc Creation. Guess I¢ll just have to tough it out drinking wine all day using my hole-puncher on all their $1000 women¢s stilettos!)
Date: 2010-01-22
To: Souvenirs
Miles today: 0.0

Many who begin their thru-hike quests at the Springer Mountain summit in Georgia are compelled to pause and stare at that famous copper plaque and first white blaze, how could you not? What waits up the trail is anyone¢s guess, but the promise of freedom, fun and adventure are so tangible it can almost be touched. Through trail lore, we know to pick up a tiny stone and pocket it. If resolve can outlast adversity, five or so months later that tiny stone will emerge from its guarded location and get placed on another summit, a rock cairn that grows with every newly christened Thru-hiker. Traditions like these are all part of the texture of an AT thru-hike and each hiker decides to participate in them or not. Whether it¢s downing a half-gallon of ice cream at a brain-freeze pace or hiking in your birthday suit on the first day of summer, there¢s something for everyone to enrich the memories. Historically, when one takes a journey, we¢re sort of conditioned to pick up a particular doodad or bobble ¢ It could be Mickey Mouse ears, a miniature Statue of Liberty or matching Hawaiian shirt and mumu ¢ funny how they all seem the absolute perfect memento at the time.For some time now, what I look to pick up is something closer to that tiny stone. In Maine, along Lake Flagstaff that hugs up to the AT, I found both of my thru-hike keepsakes. In 2004, I discovered a weathered and wave beaten piece of driftwood resembling an animal skull with antlers. Reminded me of that object Georgia O¢Keefe put in a few of her paintings. During the 2006 adventure, I made sure to revisit the same location to see what two years of storms might have deposited on the shore. Bingo, a flying duck sculpted out of driftwood by Mother Nature herself. I have both proudly displayed in the house.One of my kookier thru-hike souvenirs wasn¢t actually picked up on the trail so much as created by it. Long about 400 miles into my first hike, thinking about what might be a worthy object to symbolize my grand adventure, it occurred to me that my spent, worn-out shoes might make a nice conversation piece in the garden. Certainly saving old tattered shoes isn¢t for everyone, yet alone paying for their shipment home, but allowing them to live on after serving me well and for such a great distance was the least I could do ¢ I bet a few of you hiker types would agree. Besides, shoes turned into pots have creative energy, and I¢m all about creative energy. On the other hand, I suppose picking up a nice snow globe of Katahdin would have been just as meaningful ¢ Not.Of course, my meager keepsakes pale compared to what some of you bring home. In fact, you may even shock yourself at what you'll bring home from your thru-hike, not to mention your family. Amazingly, what some of you will pick up will be husbands and wives! Now that¢s a souvenir.
Date: 2010-01-29
To: It's a great time to be a taste bud.
Miles today: 0.0

Do you believe in kismet? Do you follow numerology? Maybe you have your Tarot cards read, or knock on wood, or believe the Magic 8-Ball? It could have been an alignment of planets or doing a good deed in a past life, but glory glory hallelujah the seas have parted and an incredible culinary treasure has been revealed from my explorations of the grocery store aisles. So remarkable is this delicious discovery that I share it now, to you, my fellow long-distance hiking adventurers in the hopes of easing your burdens, rewarding your daily toil, adding a gastronomic fulfillment to your food bags, and I do so humbly for the greater good of hiker taste buds wherever they may roam.And now, without further ado and pomp and circumstance (too late), those wonderful folks at Cinnabon, through alchemy or incantation or a pack with the devil have found a way to harness that unmistakable flavor in a 1.3 once bar! I kid you not. I kid you often, but not about finding fantastic food for our footpath forest fantasies. (I just pulled a muscle in my mouth with that last sentence?)Distributed by those sorcerers of Battle Creek, Michigan ¢ Kellogg, has brought this airport only miracle to Main Street. Somehow, those two-pound, softball sized cinnamon rolls dripping in sugary seduction have gotten squeeze, shrunk and reshaped into a portable, prepackaged, individually wrapped constellation of calories ¢ 150 to be precise. Naturally and artificially flavored their original way, this is not so much good food as sexy food. And this is ¢Oh, oh, give it to me baby real good,¢ sexy food to be certain.If I were a Snickers, although fewer calories, I¢d be worried about being replaced, especially with its measly 1.3 oz a bar. And if I were a Nutri-Grain bar, I¢d be afraid, very afraid. We might need to consider buying stock in Kellogg?If you have a hiking love interest and are stuck for ideas this Valentines Day that¢s just around the corner, well, I¢m just saying¢¦never let it be said Postcard didn¢t try to help.
Date: 2010-02-02
To: Avoid being dinner.
Miles today: 0.0

Before I started wandering aimlessly around the woods and mountains, I spent a fare amount of time in corporate America ¢ learned a few things, things I would have never dreamed would be of value. Although my industry wasn¢t as stuffy as most, we still had our share of mindless meetings. The phrase I grew to dislike was when we didn¢t sell the client on what we should have, someone would say, ¢Great meeting!¢ as if the meeting was the purpose, the end result. The interesting thing about meetings is they¢re not all created equal. Some meetings can be dreadfully dull. Well, maybe most are actually. And just because you have a speaking part doesn¢t mean you¢re a good orator or that the subject matter is full of vitality and zest. Frankly, some subject matters can give an over the counter sleeping agent a run for their money. Well, maybe most are actually.Since some you will be heading out on your first wilderness experience, you may be harboring a fret or two about, oh, ¢¦say¢¦ BEARS? Well, your timing couldn¢t be better. There¢s a new, effective survival tip in dealing with bears just now making it to outdoor enthusiast magazines pioneered by yours truly. Borrowing from my vast years in the business world where I saw first hand the efficacy of taking go-getting, wide awake humans and transforming them into yawning, caffeine drowning sloth¢s, I thought, ¢Hey, this could work with bears.¢   Rather than using outdated tactics like ¢playing dead¢ or Pepper spray, this new survival technique has proven effective at not only stopping a charging bear, but also sending them off to beddy-bye. Field-tested at length, it has an 89% success rate.Here¢s what you do, when next confronted by a bear during your hike, and you can see they¢re agitated beyond reason, quickly reach into your backpack and set up your easel. Place on it your flow chart of inventory redistribution cycles (inventory redistribution cycle flow charts are available at Flow Charts-R-Us) and begin the presentation ¢ speak calmly but with an air of confidence, nodding your head to add positive confirmation to your words. Remember do not make eye contact. Of course this will require some pre-hike practice with the subject matter, but research confirms that most bears can¢t tell when inventory is running at a surplus or deficit anyway. Yea, what dopes. If you¢re not comfortable carrying an easel, the extra weight and all, then a Power Point presentation from your laptop will also work since bear encounters happen frequently after sunset. Within moments, you should begin to see the attacker¢s demeanor quickly lessen; this should give you the time needed to dislodge yourself from its mouth (only 89% of the time).Providing that your presentation skills can rival Dale Carnegie, your attacker will be fast asleep, if you still have all your limbs, quietly but swiftly get while the get¢n is good. Once you put a mile or more between yourself and them, feel free to shout, ¢Great meeting.¢
Date: 2010-02-10
To: Fears
Miles today: 0.0

Who¢s afraid of the big, bad wolf? The Boogie Man? Politicians?Whatever we¢re afraid of one year might not be the case the next. My niece is afraid of meatloaf, go figure? Or my nephew likes to stay as far away from condiments as he can ¢ yea, flusters me to no end ever since my Dad past away and I became the cook of the family gatherings. But that¢s Ok, my Dad taught me well over the years. In fact, where cooking Thanksgiving dinner scares the heck out of some, I love it. Bring it on baby.A thru-hike will absolutely scare the Gatorade out of some, but true to form, in totally different ways. Conquering your fears will be necessary to making it to Baxter. I met one hiker whose GIGANTIC fear was walking underneath those crackling high power lines the AT occasionally passes beneath ¢ a non-issue with me, but for her, she¢d stop and wait for another hiker to appear and then get escorted. True story.(If you¢re paying attention to the Weather Channel, then you know what will break all the snowfall records in recorded history today for a single season is blasting some of us. That includes the winter when George Washington crossed the Delaware to kick Red Coat ass. So, I¢m writing another entry because I like writing and because the chili I¢m whipping up needs time to bloom.)My fears this season is being cold. In past seasons it was lightning and loneliness and gear weight and enormity and life baggage ¢ all diminished and reduced to nothingness. But cold and having the right combination of clothing, continues to give me pause. I hate not being able to intellectually solve all the ¢what ifs,¢ although I think I¢m getting close. Frankly, if I were out in this kind of a snow event on the AT (just 19 days away now), most of us would need to detour to town. The less informed of us misinterpret the debate on Global Warming as meaning that colder winters are proof that GW isn¢t happening. Perhaps afraid to go through life with a modicum of IQ, they¢d rather yell from their soapbox than engage their mind, if it still works. Me, I don¢t know, it may be a global cycle that will happen anyway, but unlike some, I¢m not afraid to actually think. Thanks to TV channels like the Science Channel, History Channel and National Geographic Channel, we all can get a post graduate education by just tuning in to something other than cage fighting, to each their own. Learning more than you know is so easy today, unless you feel documentaries are propaganda? The pursuit of educating yourself to broader horizons is favorable to this hiker than embracing a distain for it. Everyone thought Columbus discovered America once, just ask all the Native Americans. Whatever.Seeing this kind of snowfall makes me want to add an extra dinner to each maildrop to carry just in case ¢ Fail to plan and plan to fail. But then again, being flexible with your hike and miles is vital to having a successful thru-hike. Sh t happens despite the best-laid plans. Unless you don¢t have a pulse, you¢re going to have a fret or two before your big hike. Or three or four or¢¦
Date: 2010-02-11
To: Be flexible, stuff happens.
Miles today: 0.0

You can only shovel so much snow before you start to think that maybe, for this season, starting March 1st might not be the most strategic of starting dates. Dadgum, it¢s downright historic here outside of Philadelphia with the amounts of snow ¢ over 43+ inches in five days and over 73 for the winter. In these here parts, that¢s almost a foot over the old record. And most of that has all been in the last month and half and more is only days away. Fine-tuning the hiking clothes has held my interest recently, however, I may need to rethink everything, even my beloved backpack. More specifically, whether to actually carry it or embrace my inner Eskimo and opt for a sled and dog team? Not actually having access to a bonafide sled and team of huskies, I do have this creative license I keep in my wallet. Assessing my options, Buddy may be a Labrador, but that¢s still a dog. And I do have a wheel barrel that if the front wheel was to be removed, could have a vague resemblance to a sled. Hmm, very possible?Maybe this whole hiking shoe trekking thing should be rethought too, maybe I should be thinking more along the lines of wearing mukluks or snow shoes? Carry an igloo shovel rather than a potty trowel? (I don¢t really carry a potty trowel; a stick or my foot digs a pretty good hole. If you¢re trying to lighten your gear, get rid of that ridiculous bright orange potty trowel that announces to everyone around camp that you¢re going off to ¢do your business.¢) Is cross-country skiing allowed on the AT? That may be the best way to make miles this season, certainly walking would have to be the most inefficient way to get anywhere based on my backyard slogging. If I do go the sled and Buddy route, maybe I can pack a few extra goodies, say my electric blanket and Cuisinart Coffee maker? Probably need to go out and test this sled idea, ¢Buddy, where¢d you go fella?¢ I swear, I think that dog can read these entries before they¢re posted.Anyway, remaining flexible to what the trail or its conditions is fairly important in a thru-hike, as I said in previous postings. What ever you do, don¢t let your ego make the decision for you. The season before my PCT hike year, one hikers ego sent him out into a raging storm in a very confusing mountain area that I passed through. They didn¢t find him till a year later ¢ true story. So, if a change in starting date makes sense, do it. If a change in gear will help, do it. Never hesitate to zag if you must.¢Buddy, ¢¦this will be fun¢¦where¢d the heck you go?¢