morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2006-05-11
To: Prep #22-An Observation
Miles today: 0.0

Much like other future thru-hikers, I have about 7 people whose journals I keep in my favorites tab and keep up with their journey everyday. Most people are obviously in Virginia right now, and I'm starting to see a trend in their posts. Many of them are experiencing depression or the desire to quit. One person I've been reading has decided she won't finish the trail.When I read this, I always go back and read their first posts, you know, the ones (much like mine) where they are so excited and can't wait to get out there. I've made an observation though..... Almost everyone who decides to "go home for a break" or "take a short vacation from the trail" seems to get sucked back into the "town-comforts of home-vortex". In some ways, I'm glad I don't really live anywhere near the trail, and I only know 2 people (one in Virginia and one in New Hampshire) that live anywhere near it. I read in a book that you need to have all of those "blanks" filled in before you ever leave for the trail, so you'll be ready when you start asking yourself "Why the hell am I out here freezing/sweating/stinking, being hungry, tired, and exhausted, when I don't HAVE to be?"What I think is that we are so accustomed to being "forced" to do things we don't like, (for example, getting up early in the morning, going to a crappy job every single day, spending the holidays w/family members you can't stand, eating carrots and peas, etc.) that when we are faced with a difficult situation no one forces us to stick with, we lack the skills to cope with it. I am by NO means saying that people who just decide to quit the trail are weak-minded sissy or that they are "lesser" of a person/hiker for doing it. On the contrary, they've just confronted something that 99% of people wouldn't dare....uncertainty, unpredictability, and the unknown....which deserves infinite respect in my book. I believe it is our culture and its ideologies that deprives us of certain mental tools, by the ways in which we are socialized, and through the messages that are taught to us about what is "really" important in life. The unknown is a scary thing, but facing it is what keeps me ticking sometimes. I hope I've got the tools to stay the course. I always have...but then again, I've never done anything quite like this before.
Date: 2006-05-21
To: Prep #26-Stoveaholic's Anonymous
Miles today: 0.0

I decided I was going to go w/an alcohol stove for my hike, after doing extensive reading. There are as many designs as there are people in the world. The majority of them are homemade, and I found a design that uses a 3.5 oz and 5 oz catfood cans (empty of course). So, I decided today was the day to build one.(see my photos..lot's of pics), and here's a link to the website I used for instructions:http://royrobinson.homestead.com/Cat_Stove.htmlAfter I found everything I needed (I couldn't find welded wire, but used chicken wire instead), and sat down to make my first stove, I realized I was going to be one of those people who would soon need to attend stoveaholics anonymous meetings.IT WAS SOOOOOO MUCH FUN making my own stove!!!! Did I mention that I had fun doing this? Oh yeah...it was really fun making my own alcohol stove.So, I got my tools out, all my supplies, and lucked out/figured out how to actually make a catfood can stove. When I had it all made, I decided I would cook an "official thru-hiker's meal" on it to welcome it to the world.....Lipton Noodles.I got my brand new, Evernew 1.3L Titanium pot out of the bag, and put 2 cups water in it. I took the whole set-up outside, because afterall, I won't be cooking in a kitchen on the AT now will I?It was really windy today, but I had a windscreen that I built, and it worked great. So, I measured the fuel (in Tablespoons), lit a small twig and dipped the flame into the fuel and WALLA!! Fire....hee hee hee (I'm a closeted Pyro). I threw my pot on there, but just as it was about to boil, my fuel burned out. I added more and finally, water boiled, I threw my lipton's noodles in, they cooked for 7 minutes and even simmered. SUCCESS...my noodles were perfect and I cooked them on a stove/stand/windscreen that weighs a total of 2.2 oz!! Amazing. I'm going to conduct more experiments to really get to know length of cook time vs. amount of fuel, but I ate a fantastic dinner tonight, all cooked on this tiny little stove. Because I had to buy all of the supplies in bulk, I'll be able to build probably hundreds of other stoves and really get this down to an art. It was so rewarding building something w/my own hands that resulted in a hot meal for my hungry tummy. And the best part is that the entire stove/stand fits inside my cooking pot. The windscreen will be wrapped around the fuel bottle. Pretty cool stuff. I'd never spend $ on a "backpacking stove" when I could just make my own.So here goes: "Hello, my name is Michele, and I'm a stoveaholic"
Date: 2006-05-23
To: Prep #27-A New Olympic Sport!
Miles today: 0.0

********DISCLAIMER*********IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED, THEN SKIP THIS ENTRYThis actually happened to me today, and it was hilarious, so I had to share._______________________________________________________________________________I got home from work and decided to hike a new trail. I loaded my camelback Mule down w/18 lbs (I bought a fish scale w/the hook, so I can weigh my packs!), and headed to a metro park. It was supposed to be a 5.8 mile trail. Soooooooooooo............I had my map (which ended up being useless) and headed across this metal bridge that had no actual walking boards, so I hung onto the rail and scaled the rusty frame to get across.Minutes into this hike, I realized my map was just wrong, so I decided to have fun and explore. I went all over the place, but everywhere started circling back to the original point. Everything was very muddy and slippery, I was essentially walking in a creek bed that probably had a lot of run-off water in it last week.As you know, creeks generally have banks or ridges rising on either side, and this one did too. I thought..AH HA...the perfect place for some steep (but short) hill workouts. I proceeded to find these great steep, rooty, muddy hills and started going up and down and up and down......then up and down up and down some more. I could feel my quads burning and sweat rolling down my face. It felt great.Then it happened.....about the 15th time I was headed up a slick, muddy hill, I invented a new Olympic sport! I lost my footing and I "Tit-Slid" all the way down the hill! Now, if you're wondering what I mean by this, I have taken this opportunity to draw a picture and upload it on my photo's link. Look for the pic titled "New Sport" (You'll have to excuse my horrible drawing..I was using a Graphics Tablet for the first time and I can't draw to save my life....but you get the point). After a loud grunt, and planting my knees in the mud to stop the sliding, I started laughing, and as usual, nobody was around to see this graceful act. Oh....the adventures that await me on the AT next year.
Date: 2006-05-28
To: Prep #28-Don't Miss The Bus
Miles today: 0.0

Wooo Hooooo! I finally decided upon and ordered my sleeping bag for my hike. After months of reading posts on trail forums and asking lot of questions, I finally decided to purchase a Western Mountaineering Ultralite, 20-degree down bag. The thing only weighs 1 lb 10z! Amazing...expensive ($313.00)...but amazing.Friday was the day I did this. See, I work at a university that charges an employee $600.00 a year to park! Outrageous!! So, I discovered I can park at a shopping center, catch the bus (for free w/my employee I.D.) and save the $ for more important things...say...like....HIKING GEAR!!After work on Friday, I go to my other job (bookkeeping) and once finished, I ride the bus all the way back to my truck. Well, Friday I finished my bookkeeping at a time when I would have had to wait for the next bus for 45 minutes. So, I had no choice..really...I didn't. I HAD to go to the outfitter store just around the corner!! It's a Moosejaw store I didn't even know was there till 3 weeks ago.I'm of course having to use breathing techniques to slow down my heart rate when I go into the store. I had visited it a few weeks before to slip into a WM bag, to check the fit. Good thing I did, because I thought I'd be getting shorter bag, and I discovered it fit like a straight jacket (guess I'm a bit wider than the "average" short person..haa haa). So I figured I had no more reasons to wait to order my bag. I knew I wasn't going to find one significantly cheaper on e-bay or anything, and nobody has responded to my "Want to Buy" posts on any forums. I ordered it, and it will be in sometime in the next 2-3 weeks! After putting my order in, I got to talking to the saleswoman and blah blah blah....blah blah blah. Next thing I know, I look down at my watch and it was 2 min. PAST the time the bus was supposed to be at the bus stop (which was 4 blocks away!)This wouldn't have been a big deal, but it was 10:00 p.m., and this is a little town, so buses are few and far between at night. I walked briskly to the bus stop....no bus. I managed to find a bus schedule and saw that a different bus could get me back to my truck, but it would be another 25 minutes. Oh well..no choice. I almost walked back to the outfitter's but figured they would be closed. So I was good, I sat there, finally caught my bus and went home. I think I need to hire a babysitter to keep me on track when going into an outfitter's store. I swear it's like the twilight zone for me...no sense of what time it is or how much time as passed. It's like the one place I can go where it's ok to talk about my hike non-stop. (Besides here). So the lesson learned....Ann Arbor needs to extend their bus schedule to accomodate my shopping schedule! hee hee
Date: 2006-06-04
To: Prep # 29-Dream on Dream on..
Miles today: 0.0

Have you ever known that person that always seemed to be living in a "dream" world? I don't mean that they thought they were Elvis Presley and lived in a billion dollar mansion with Marilyn Monroe or anything...but just someone that always dreamed of big plans, big adventures.I bought Lion King's DVD "Walking with Freedom," which documented his 2003 thru-hike of the AT. Lion King (who is doing the PCT right now and making a video of it), I think did a great job of showing the culture, ups, downs, terrain, and a basic view into the world of thru-hiking.My partner wathced this DVD w/me, and although hiking is not at all her sort of sport, she said that she envied me, because she knew the culture and people side of my hike was going to be really great.Well...this led us to a conversation about "what's next" after I get back from my hike (of course...we're all assuming for conversation's sake that I'm going to make it to Maine!). From what it looks like, the hiking culture has its own set of values that seem to match up w/ours..more than anything else we've seen out there. I told her that I had this great idea that would allow us to immerse ourselves in the culture, and yet she could still do what she loved to do...she's a chef (a REALLY REALLY good chef!).We started talking about opening our own hiker hostel, (we've tossed around the idea of a B&B for years), but she would be able to cook fantastic food for people who truly appreciated it, and we'd both live a life of service to the community. Of course...I'd see me in the role of shuttle driver, advice giver, conversationalist, hostel caretaker/maintenance person,financial mastermind, seeing by then I would have hopefully completed my own thru-hike.It was a really fun coversation to have....we were verbalizing a big dream, and you never know what might happen. Our last big dream like this was selling all of our possessions, buying a Trailmanor travel trailer, and living a mobile life. It seems we're always going back to the theme of simplifying, getting closer to nature, and creating experiental environments. All I know is that no matter what we do, my partner will only be happy if she can cook. Lucky for her...there's always hungry people!  Oh...almost totally forgot. I finally got a "sorry we've filled the position" letter from that dream job I applied for several months ago. I've never been so happy in my life to get a rejection letter! God..even if they had offered it to me, I'm way to invested in this hike to even consider it. I think the post that I talked about it was titled "Why can't anything be easy?" Well...from time to time, it really IS that easy. All arrows point to Georiga!!
Date: 2006-06-08
To: Prep #30-"You're obsessed aren't you?"
Miles today: 0.0

The title of this entry were the words that came out of my partner's mouth last night. My response was..."ummmm....yeah" She didn't mean this in a negative way at all, but it seems these days I have difficulty thinking or talking about much more than my adventure next year. I call it the "concentration-camp" effect. It is your mind's ability to transport you somewhere else in time in order to make the present situation managable. Let me note, however, that I in no way shape or form can even possibly remotely compare my current (not really that bad) situation w/any of the souls that have endured such an atrocity as a concentration camp. So last night, I placed my first 3 items on ebay to sell. Of course, any $ earned will go into my hiking fund, but it's really fun to watch. Of course, there seems to be something wrong w/the server at work, so I can't check the status of my stuff this morning....ugh.Life has been crazy though...working tons, my partner has been working tons, and we've been waving hello and goodbye to each other for a month now. Well, last week, I finally had an evening home, and she walks in the door from her 13-hr day in the kitchen w/a gift bag for ME!! Talk about support, she went to the book store and bought me 2 books, one on the AT and one on outdoor survival, AND she gave me a $50.00 gift card to REI!! EEEEEERRRRRRR (again, insert screaching car stopping sounds here) I HAVE FIFTY WHOLE DOLLARS TO SPEND AGAIN!!! (See previous post #16 for a review of what happened last time I had $50.00 to spend unexpectedly).First I will publicly admit that yes, I am a spoiled brat, yes, I am so incredibly lucky to have someone in my life that genuinely supports my adventurous soul, and yes, I've obtained 2 more pieces of needed gear! I will take pics and give weights this weekend, but I got my winter hat and a dual-purpose piece of clothing...it is my bra/tank top if it got too hot for short sleeves. I think they're called a camisole. Although it covers my whole upper body, it still weighed less than just a sport's bra, so score...I got both comfort and less weight!
Date: 2006-06-10
To: Prep #31-A New Way of Approaching Each Day
Miles today: 0.0

I've always been one of those people that works non-stop from the beginning to the end of a project w/no breaks. I'm also the kind of person that typically schedules my day so that I go from one task to the next to the next w/little chill time in between. The reason is that I like to get everything completed so that I can come home w/nothing to worry about and relax. That works great....unless you work both day and evenings.As of now, I'll easily be able to save the $ for my hike, but only because I work 65-75 hrs a week. I am by no means complaining, I feel fortunate that I've been able to arrange things so that I can pull this whole thing off financially. However, there are many days/nights when I work from 7:45 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and it's impossible for me to go home and "chill" for any amount of time. So, I've started trying something new this week, and I've realized that the more I practice this, the easier it will be for me to stretch my hike out to a little less than 7 months (the average person takes about 6...but I want to really take my time and enjoy everything). I know I risk getting focused on needing to "get to my shelter" for the day, and I just don't want to hike w/that type of mindset. I want to feel calm, relaxed, and ok stopping and enjoying a beautiful view for 3 hrs if I so desire. So this past Thursday, I got off work from my day job, rode the bus back to my vehicle and instead of rushing to my evening job, I took the time to get a Mocha, sit down outside, read a little, stare off into nowhere and day dream a little, and just take a breather for me. Even though I still had things on my "to do" list, I learned that it's really ok to put some down time in the middle of the chaos. I think the more I practice this, the more I'll learn to really relax and not just force myself to sit still. This probably all sounds weird, but my mind generally moves at the speed of light, so sitting still is difficult for me. I like to be doing something all the time. So, I think this is a healthy change to my daily style in general. Stop rushing, stop stressing about the time, start finding the joy in little moments of my days now, and my experience on the trail will be all the more meaningful.
Date: 2006-07-07
To: Prep #34-I Think I Can...I Think I Can...
Miles today: 0.0

Well the past two weeks have been full...full of everything except rest or relaxation. I remember when I was trying to sort out my work situation in order to save the $ for this hike. I think I said something like "I'll work 60 hrs a week if I have to?"....well...one must be careful of what one asks for! I'm currently mentally/physically exhausted due to all of the demands of all of my jobs. Oh yeah, and I also think some of our culture's -work place rules- are really stupid..like...you HAVE to sit at work for 8 hrs a day, even if there's really nothing to do! On the other hand...it does give me time to read other's journals and daydream a little. Shhhhh.........Alas...it is finally Friday...and not just any Friday, it is my 33rd birthday today. I got to work this morning after having only 4 hrs of sleep last night, but like most people, I can make it through a day if I know I can sleep as late as I want tomorrow (then again...I may end up going into another job..we'll see). Besides, my friend Heather is taking me out for Chinese today, and well...there's nothing like good Chinese food to put me in a good mood.I am, however, a spoiled brat. Last weekend, I woke up and checked my e-mail to find that my life-long friends, Cindy and Karen, had sent me a $100.00 gift card to REI for my birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!! SA-WEEEEETT!!! Of course...I had to immediately research some gear issues and within 2 hrs I had ordered some miscellaneous gear totalling $98.53!! For any of you numbers nerds like me, so far, I have managed to save over $500.00 on gear purchases through implementing the following shopping tactics:a). Research all gear and memorize the "normal" prices of everything, so you'll know when things really are on saleb). Shop on e-bayc). Forced myself to wait for sales (this required a shock device to be worn around my wrist, that activated if I so much as thought about going into the outfitters if they weren't having a sale..painful...yet clearly effective)d). Take blister-causing yet slightly expensive boots back to REI for a full credit and turn that into a gear-bonanza day e). Last but not least...whine, kick, moan, and talk constantly to all of your family/friends about your hike and make sure you verbally "list" the gear you still have left to purchase (and you MUST include prices here people)--while at the same time describing how you were having to pinch yourself while driving home from an 18 hour work-day, just to stay awake..cause afterall, you have to work these crazy amounts of hours to afford this hike!!!***Now if you're friends aren't the sympathetic type then that probably means they are narcissistic (had to look that big word up!), so just tell them that you'll make them infamous by mentioning them in your trail journal...and that might work as well.Is it March 15 yet?
Date: 2006-07-22
To: Prep #35--Getting Really Really Real
Miles today: 0.0

Now I can't negate the fact that I'm going to do this thing (not that I was...it just sounded like a good opening sentence!). My pack showed up in the mail 2 days ago!!! Well, I hope it's going to be my pack. I'm going to go ahead and order a few others through the outfitters and take this one w/all my gear and try on a few different ones, just to make sure. I'm hopeful, however, that my ULA Catalyst is "the one". I got home about 11:00 p.m. Thursday night from my 2nd job (or was that 3rd?) and there was the box in the door. I picked it up and thought, "surely this isn't my pack....the box feels like there's nothing in it!" Well..sure enough, it was my pack. I've gotta give Brian a plug, he's an ultralite hiker who has converted his garage into his shop, and he hand-makes every pack when ordered. Here's a link to his site...at least look at the pics of his shop. I love the fact that I could support someone like this instead of some "logo" that has no face attached. http://www.ula-equipment.com/index.htmIt just so happened that my pack of choice won some awards this year, so I'm so stoked about having it. I'll put pics up soon, because I've also got some other little bits and bobs that have shown up that I need to post.I realized yesterday that I've expired 1/3 of the time that I had to work at all my little jobs. When I started counting down (which IS my favorite thing to do), I had 9 months (aka-the amount of time a woman is pregnant..this made my situation seem like cake compared to going through that!). My gosh..3 months will be behind me as of August 1. I can't believe it. Now I have to do this 2 more times and I can give my notice to the world and become completely unemployed w/only 2 weeks before I step off from Springer. Absolutely crazy to me. I now understand how I've read other people's journals and they suddenly get caught off guard w/all this stuff to do and only a few weeks to do it in. I do feel like I'm moving at a good pace though. I'm slowly purchasing all my gear and only have some other logistical problems to work through, but if I rushed and did all of this in 1 week, I'd go crazy, because it would just be waiting then. Rachael and I went camping for 5 days last week, and I've got some thoughts to share about that experience, but I must close this for now. My friend from work, Heather, is coming over and we're all going out for lunch, and then Heather is taking us to the newly opened IKEA and giving us the tour. She swears it's the best thing since sliced bread. When was bread not sliced anyways?