morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-04-25
From: Damascus

To: Herndon, Virginia
Miles today: 0.0

Ok, so this morning, I hear from my wife: A rental car is one possiblilty, but because it would be "one way", there was a "recovery" fee of a dollar a mile! That made the cost rediculously high. However, even a bus will be a complicated way to get home, as they have changed their routes, and it would cost me $100 just to get a shuttle to the town where I could catch a bus.   So I decide to get some breakfast, and then decide what to do. I'm sitting in the Dairy King, just finishing breakfast, when in walks "Topo". He is about to take a few days off to visit with his girl friend. She is driving down from New York, and he -- get this -- is waiting for his rental car to be delivered, and then he's going to drive north to meet up with her in Harper's Ferry. Which is like 45 minutes from my house! Long story short, my ride home is arranged. Sweet. Life on the trail is like that. Trail magic. Sometimes you're on the giving end, and sometimes your on the receiving end. Five hours later, I'm home. Weird. Sureal. Great to see my wife and kids. Really great. But.... Waaaaaaaa! I want to be on the trail hiking!Ok, enough histerics. Deal with it. Look on the bright side. .....
Date: 2009-04-27
From: Herndon, Virginia

To: Herndon, Virigina
Miles today: 0.0

Before I left Damascus, I left a note for Squeegy and the Gang letting them know what I was doing, and that I'd plan to meet up with them in a couple of weeks. This morning, Ms. Scarlet called to see how I was doing and when I might be rejoining them. I said my wife could only get me back to the trail on a weekend, so I was thinking I might try to go this coming weekend -- providing the toe was healing well. So far, it was going slowly, but I'm an incurable optimist. She said they all missed me, and would look forward to seeing me soon.The reality is that the toe is not healing all that fast, and hurts to walk on. Which really pisses me off, but what can I do...
Date: 2008-05-18
To: 10 Months
Miles today: 0.0

Testing....Testing...This is my first official journal entry for my upcoming 2009 NOBO (northbound) AT hike. I am planning on starting around March 1, 2009, which is less than 10 months away. Eek! In the next several months, I will post a few "prep" entries that will give updates on my trip planning (new gear, backpacking trips, food prep, final gear list, etc.). Until then...
Date: 2008-06-16
To: Trek Across Maine
Miles today: 0.0

I just got back from the Trek Across Maine - the largest and longest running 3-day cycling event in New England that takes ¢trekkers¢ 170 miles from the mountains of Bethel to the coastline of Belfast to promote clean air and lung health in Maine. The Trek is one of Maine¢s largest health promotion events, and this year alone, approximately 1,900 trekkers raised about $1.3 million for the American Lung Association of Maine (ALAM).This was my fourth year participating in the event and I was able to raise $1K for ALAM thanks to my generous friends and family! I rode with the "Burning Quads" team, which consists of me and 7 amazing people...6 fabulous ladies and my friend Rachel's 8-year old son. We had a blast and the weather held out for the first 2 days, but poured on day 3. If you like to bike and want to ride through the Maine countryside for 3 days, definitely register for next year! I unfortunately won't be registering for next year's event, as I hope to be somewhere in Pennsylvania around this time next year. But I will definitely be back with the Burning Quads in 2010!
Date: 2008-07-02
To: 8 Months
Miles today: 0.0

Here is some interesting information I found on www.appalachiantrail.org:The Appalachian Trail, completed in 1937:Is a unit of the National Park Service. Is the nation's longest marked footpath, at approximately 2,175 miles. Is the first national scenic trail, designated in 1968. Houses more than 2,000 occurrences of rare, threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant and animal species. Crosses six national parks. Traverses eight national forests. Touches 14 states.Crosses numerous state and local forests and parks. Is maintained by 30 trail clubs and multiple partnerships. Fun facts about the Appalachian Trail:Lowest elevation: 124 feet. Highest elevation: 6,625 feet. There are 165,000 blazes along the length of the Trail. More than 9,000 people have reported hiking the length of the Trail. It takes approximately 5 million footsteps to walk the entire length of the Trail.
Date: 2008-09-02
To: 6 Months!
Miles today: 0.0

It's hard to believe that in exactly 6 months I'll be boarding a plane to Atlanta! These next 6 months will fly by as I finalize my maildrop schedule, continue to dehydrate meals, accumulate the remaining gear, go on a few more shakedown hikes, and dream about being on the trail.   View from some ledges just north of Imp Campsite, NH
Date: 2008-10-06
To: 5 Months!
Miles today: 0.0

Happy Fall!Wow, a lot has happened in the past month!I'll do a quick recap:September 16th was my 26th birthday and I got lots of fun goodies for the hike ¢the SteriPEN Adventurer (which I used for the first time this past weekend), Trekker Chair (LOVE this, so don¢t even try to talk me out of bringing it!), dried veggies and a gift certificate from Harmony House Foods, Patagonia socks, and a gift card to EMS (which I¢ll probably use to buy a digital watch with). My mom has agreed to update my journal while I¢m away! I¢ll be emailing her entries and she¢ll just copy/paste them into trail journals. This will be very helpful, thanks mom! I came REALLY close to purchasing my 1-way plane ticket to Atlanta! Patrice, Liz, and I have decided to all fly down to Atlanta on March 1st and start hiking on March 2rd. I¢ll most likely take a non-stop flight out of Boston, and hope to purchase my ticket in the next couple weeks. I¢m glad I found 2 great ladies to start the hike with!Patrice, Angela, and I just got back from a 2-day shakedown hike in the White Mountains (see photos below). It was great! We hiked up Mt. Moosilauke, stayed at Beaver Brook Shelter (on the AT), and hiked back down the next day to the cars via some side trails. Fall is in full swing in NH and the temperature is dropping. It was about 50 degrees during the day but got down into the lower 30s at night. I tested out my new 1-person tent (love it [once I figured out how the fly worked!]) and the SteriPEN (the water tasted great, say goodbye to iodine tablets!). I was mildly chilly at night, but should be fine with a sleeping bag liner I bought not too long ago (but chose not to take on our trip). We all had a blast chatting and laughing, and are currently planning a weekend trip to Acadia to do some hiking and camping in November.Stay tuned!
Date: 2008-11-01
To: 4 Months!!!
Miles today: 0.0

Exactly 4 months and counting!!My friend Kelley is tackling all the 4,000 foot peaks in NH, so I tagged along on a recent 2-day trip up the Carters and Moriah. This trip was another great shakedown trip for me...Ive been trying to get as many of these in as possible prior to March. Ive been feeling confident in the contents of my pack...my base weight has been a consistent 20 lbs without food and water, which has been perfect for me. Kelley and I are planning on another 2-day trip next weekend...its been in the low 20s at night for the past couple weeks, so next weekend will be a great time to test out my new sleeping bag liner. These next 4 months are going to fly by.....   Photos from our trip:
Date: 2009-01-02
To: omg, 2 Months!
Miles today: 0.0

Happy New Year!Ive been saying for so long (years!) that I'm hiking the AT in 2009. Now it is officially 2009 and I'm hiking this year! Finally....Over Christmas, I taught my mom how to update my journal while I'm away. She insists that we have a weekly "refresher" from now until the time I leave so she doesn't forget how to do it. I also received some things for my hike...a cookpot, waterbottle holster (which I needed badly since I can't reach my water bottle holders on my pack), an ipod nano, some freeze dried fruit, an ultralight firstaid kit, and a few other things.So now I'm basically all set with my gear and just updated the gear page of my journal. After denying it for the past year, I finally realized that I need a new sleeping bag for March and just purchased a 15 degree bag from REI yesterday. I'll keep my old bag for the warmer months. The last thing on my list is the Montbell Thermawrap Vest which I'm waiting for to go on sale. If it doesn's soon, I'll just buy it next month. I've finalized my mail drop locations, and here they are:1. Blairsville, GA 2. Hiawassee, GA                                                   3. Fontana Dam, NC4. Hartford, TN5. Hot Springs, NC6. Erwin, TN7. Roan Mountain, TN8. Damascus, VA 9. Rural Retreat, VA10. Montebello, VA11. Bluemont, VA12. Smithsburg, MD13. Duncannon, PA14. Port Clinton, PA15. Blairstown, NJ16. Killington, VT17. Glencliff, NH18. Hart's Location, NH19. Gorham, NH20. Andover, ME 21. Stratton, ME 22. The Forks, ME23. Monson, MEHere are some photos from some of my latest hiking adventures:Baldface Loop on the ME/NH border...my new favorite hike:Mt Waumbek, NH:
Date: 2009-01-15
To: Could it be?!
Miles today: 0.0

Could it be that my backpack weighs 25 pounds?! I woke up early this morning, but instead of going to the gym I packed up my pack with everything I'd be taking in March. I weighed it on the bathroom scale (which I don't trust 100%) and I was suprised to see that it only weighed 25 pounds. 25 pounds has been my goal base weight* (i.e. total pack weight minus food and water) for some time now, but I thought for sure it would weigh more than that with all the warm clothes I'm bringing for the cold months. Granted, there are still a few more things I need to add (my ipod and phone chargers, pocketmail, the AT handbook, a deck of cards, and thermawrap vest) but all those things combined should weigh less than a pound....so I'm looking at a 25-26 lb base weight. yahoo!!On a different note....I've been noticing a dull pain in my right knee for the past week or so....hope that goes away in the next month and a half. Maybe it's because I didn't do my leg lifts for a week straight when I was sick last week. Now that I'm healthy again I can get back to the routine.*For all you ultralight hikers out there, I know that a base weight of 25 lbs may seem like a lot of weight. However, I'm not going for the ultralight thing, and like to be comfortable while I'm backpacking. I'm not one to sacrifice comfort in order for my pack to be a couple pounds lighter (i.e., I'm carrying a 3 pound indestructible tent that will keep me warm, dry, and happy in the worst of weather instead of carrying a 2 pound tarp tent that has the possibility of leaking overnight and me waking up shivering in a wet sleeping bag). I've been perfecting my gear for the past 2-3 years on all the trips I've been going on and what may work for me may not work for other people, and vice versa. People have hiked the trail with far more weight than 25 lbs, so please don't burst my bubble! Thanks
Date: 2009-01-30
To: 30 DAYS
Miles today: 0.0

Liz, Patrice, and I at Bash Bish Falls in NY. The next time I see Patrice and Liz will be at the Atlanta airport! I've made a legit attempt to "downsize" over the past couple weeks. I've given clothes away to friends, put 3 large bags together for Good Will, and thrown out a lot of clutter that has accumulated over the past few years. Suprisingly, however, it still seems that I could probably outfit the local Patagonia. I'm going to have to do something about this when I return....
Date: 2009-02-05
To: Lots Of Food...
Miles today: 0.0

For the past year, I've been stuffing all my dehydrated meals into a big tupperware bin. I realized that it had been a long time since I had actually gone through the bin, and had a slight panic that perhaps everything would be crawling with fruit flies and spiders. I didn't actually think that that would have happened, but I thought about it nonetheless.To ease my mind, I started sorting through all my dried food today to take an inventory of how much I had and what I still need. I was happy to see that all my food was still intact with no creepy crawlies. However, I did have a plastic grocery bag of small olive oil individual packets that I was going to add to some of my drops. Turns out one (or several) had burst, leaking olive oil through the plastic grocery bag and into some of my ziploc bags of food. If the packets were to burst on the trail, the oil could ruin both my food and food bag. If anyone was thinking about bringing packets of olive oil for the trail, I highly suggest not doing it!Turns out I still need about 20 more dinners, which I can hopefully take care of in the next 2 weeks. Once I get all this food business straightened out, the next step is to start putting everything into mail drop boxes and packaging them up. It will be interesting to see how much each box weighs because whatever I put in them I know I'll be carrying on my back at some point.I thought I'd post another 1-pot meal recipe that is tasty and dehydrates/redydrates really well.Ratatouille (Mediterranean Vegetable Stew) ¢ from The New Moosewood Cookbook¢¢3 Tbs. olive oil (I used 2 Tbs or even less because olive oil doesn¢t dehydrate)¢¢4 medium cloves garlic, minced¢¢2 cups diced onion¢¢1 bay leaf¢¢1 medium eggplant (peeled and diced)¢¢1 12 tsp. salt¢¢1 12 tsp. basil¢¢1 tsp. marjoram or oregano¢¢12 tsp. rosemary¢¢12 tsp. thyme¢¢1 medium zucchini, diced¢¢2 medium bell peppers, diced¢¢fresh black pepper¢¢1 14.5-oz. can tomatoes¢¢Orzo (this wasn¢t in the recipe but I thought this recipe needed some kind of starch. I cooked the orzo separately and then added it to the stew at the end)1.Heat olive oil in a deep skillet or dutch oven. Add garlic, onion, and bay leaf, and saut© over medium heat for about 5 mins.2.Add eggplant, salt, and herbs, and stir. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft.3.Add zucchini, bell peppers, black pepper, and tomatoes (break up any large tomatoes). Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the zucchini and bell peppers are tender.4.Add cooked orzoDehydrate for 5 hours or until dry using the method I described in my 12/1/08 entry.
Date: 2009-02-08
To: Mom's Test
Miles today: 0.0

This is a "test" for Karen's mom who will be updating her journal as she progresses along the trail. Karen's mom is computer and technologically challenged :>), so she is hoping this works. As time is drawing near for her departure, her dad and I are so excited that she will be fullfilling a goal that she has had for many years. She has kept a dream in her pocket and faith in her heart! Anything is possible! xoxoxo   Now, let's see if this works and gets into your journal. Karen and Mom (aka "Mamoo")
Date: 2009-02-21
To: 8 Days!!!!
Miles today: 0.0

The final stretch...Yesterday was my last day of work, and while I enjoy my job and like all my co-workers, I am looking forward to 7 months of unemployment. It's been 23 years since I've gone that long without school or work responsibilities. Ironically I have been hit with a series of ailments with 1 week to go...the mysterious pain in my knee (which I think has gotten better within the last couple weeks but is still there), a pulled rib muscle (perhaps a bowling-related injury?), and the onset of head cold (which I'm visciously fighting with EmergenC and Echinacea). I am optimistic that my rib will heal within a week and that I can prevent the cold from hitting hard. I'm planning on shipping my pack down to Georgia to avoid the hassles of airport security and checked baggage, so I have to have my pack ready to go for Monday UPS shipment. I just packed everything up and I am still at 25 pounds without food and water. With food (4 days) and water (2 liters), I think my pack will be no more than 33 pounds (I hope!). Before....After....
Date: 2009-03-01
From: Portland, ME

To: Dahlonega, GA
Miles today: 0.0

I did not sleep a wink last night! The cold I thought I had fought came on hard yesterday...pefect timing Also (and more importantly), the weather forecast for today called for rain and snow from Maine down to Georgia, and after hearing that Liz's flight from Philly had already been cancelled by 9pm last night, I got a bit worried. She was able to get on an early flight this morning, thank goodness.I got out of bed early, took a shower, grabbed my bag, and said bye to the kitties. Dom drove me to the bus station and we said our goodbyes. He'll be coming down to VA to hike in a month and a half which I'm already looking forward to. When I got to Logan airport, I found out that all the flights out of Boston to Atlanta were cancelled today except for mine! Now how is that for lucky??Got to the Hiker Hostel around 6:30pm and met up with my parents and sister for dinner in Dahlonega at a great Italian restaurant called Piazza. They dropped me back off at the hostel and I spent some time organizing my pack before hitting the hay.Tomorrow is THE DAY!
Date: 2009-03-02
From: Amacalola Falls State Park

To: Springer Mountain
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Cori (Grommet), Liz (Rocket), Patrice (Storm), and I got dropped off at Amicalola Falls State Park where we would hike the Approach Trail to Springer Mountain. The Approach Trail isn't officially part of the Appalachian Trail (hence the 0 mileage above) but we decided to do it anyways (hey, what's another 8.8 miles in the scheme of things!?). My parents and sister met us at the park and took lots of photos as we began the journey. The Approach Trail starts off with 460 stairs (about a miles worth) which parallel the falls. It was equivalent to the hardest stairmaster workout imaginable but the falls were beautiful, especially since it had just rained for a few days. We said goodbye to my family at the top of the falls and continued along. Thanks mom, dad, and Lauren for coming!It snowed last night so the trees were dusted in snow which made for some fantastic views today. We got to Springer around 4pm, set up tents, made dinner, and called it a day. It is not even 7pm and its 20 degrees. BRR! I still feel like I'm only out here for a few days...the full extent of this trip hasn't really sunk in yet. Which I guess is a good thing...I'll take this 4 days at a time.OH in other news, I mastered the snot rocket today.
Date: 2009-03-03
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.6
Weather: clear sky

Last night was COLD! The caretaker (Many Sleeps) told us that it got down to 7 degrees (without the wind chill, and the wind was howling!), which is definitely the coldest I've camped in. I was fine (only slightly chilly at times) in my 15 degree bag, but I was wearing most of my layers, including my down gloves with hand warmers.We all had a late breakfast since it was so cold and difficult to emerge from our warm sleeping bags, and we didn't start hiking until 10:45. By that time, our friend Colonel Mustard (he started at the same time as us from Amicalola) had already left and we didn't see him on the trail all day...I hope we see him again!      The hiking today was super easy...lots of even terrain and ridge walking. The temp warmed up quickly, and got up to 45 mid-day and was very SUNNY and felt like spring. I might even be getting a tan! All in all a great day.We are at Hawk Mtn shelter tonight with a bunch of others, including Tagless and Tagalong and Minnasota Smith. I didn't catch the names of anyone else, but everyone is very nice. It's supposed to be another cold night, hopefully not as cold as last night.I almost forgot! I was dubbed the trail name Loon today, which I think is very fitting: I live in Maine, love the loon call, and have bird legs. Done and done
Date: 2009-03-04
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: clear sky

It didn't get nearly as cold last night as it did the night before. I think the low was around 25, and was about 30 when we woke up. There is a military training base in the area and I heard machine guns firing around dusk which was a little unnerving and low flying helicopters so close to our tents that the ground shook.After leaving the shelter around 9:45am (about 10 mins after Rocket, Storm, and Grommet left), Egghead and I made a wrong turn at Highwater Road and ended up walking on a trail that apparently was not the AT. We were apprehensive from the start because we hadn't seen a white blaze on any trees since crossing the road. We hiked downhill for about 0.25-mile before deciding to turn around, which meant backtracking uphill another 0.25-mile back to the road. I knew the others would be a bit worried that we hadn't caught up to them, so I basically hightailed it for the next 4 miles and finally caught them on top of Sassafrass Mtn around 1pm. Phew! Apparently Chopper also made this mistake, but didn't turn around and ended up in the military base camp and having to road walk 3 miles back to the AT.I love the mountains in Georgia so far, with their switchbacks and well maintained trail, however we haven't had a view from a mountain summit since Springer. I'm not a fan of viewless summits! My guidebook says that there will be views from Blood Mountain, which we'll be summiting on Friday. Hoorah!When we got to the shelter, Rocket and I had the first of many "stink offs". It is incredible how bad I smell only after 3 days, but Rocket was sure she smelled worse than me. Grommet was the judge (don't know how she got stuck with that job!) and smelled the pits of each our shirts. It was a tie! I'm missing LOST tonight, don't tell me what happens!
Date: 2009-03-05
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Woods Hole Shelter
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: clear sky

This has officially been my longest backpacking trip so far...a whopping 4 full days!Today we woke up to 32 degrees and hit the trail by 9:15 in order to get to woods hole shelter by a decent time. Today was our biggest mileage day so far and it definitely took a toll on all of us.We climbed Ramrock Mountain (finally, views!) and had lunch at Woody Gap. There were trash cans at the gap so we could unload some garbage we've been carrying around for days. We still had 6 more miles to do after lunch, which seemed to take forever. Climbed Granny Top Mtn which also had great views. My feet were killing me most of the day, so I was psyched when we finally saw the sign for the shelter. We are definitely in between two giant groups of thru hikers, which we've been told by several day and overnight hikers. Good thing because we will have a better chance at getting bunks at the hostel at Neels Gap tomorrow. Woohoo, laundry and showers tomorrow, and I will pick up my first maildrop!I STINK!