morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-04-12
From: Spivey Gap

To: Erwin, TN - Jonesborough, TN
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: clear sky

April 12, 2009Cool night and sunny day. Had a good sleep last night. Camped with Papa November, and two section hikers--Cowgirl and Big Feet. I slept in shorts for the first time to see if I would be warm enough. I also wore my usual long sleeve shirt, fleece jacket, stocking cap, and socks. I was plenty warm. Although my sleeping bag is rated at 20 degrees, I wanted to see for myself since I'm a cold sleeper. The camp site was about 200 yards from the road and I was a little concerned about locals having a party. I did hear one vehicle slowly pass by 5 or 6 times but it never stopped. Papa N said he heard some turkeys in camp early this morning but I slept through it. We began getting up around 0630 and I departed at 0750, about 15 minutes after Papa N. When I went to day goodbye, Cowgirl was wearing a pair of rabbit ears. The map showed a fairly significant climb out of the gap but it wasn't as bad as advertised. After the climb is was pretty much downhill for about four miles to No Business Knob Shelter. Along the way I passed a hiker heading south to Key West Florida. Papa N was at the shelter when I arrived and soon another hiker, Sciro, arrived. He retired from the Seabees. We discussed the military while I had a couple snacks. From there it was an easier than expected climb, a downhill into Temple Hill Gap, another climb to Temple Ridge, then a 2+ mile descent to the Nolichucky River and Erwin TN. At least a couple times each day I turn my right ankle a little but nothing serious. The strange thing is it almost always happens on level trail and hardly ever while climbing up and/or down boulders or over rhododendron roots. Today was no exception. On a nice, level grade my right ankle went over again, but this time it went further than usual. I didn't fall, but stumbled a few yards before regaining my balance. It began hurting immediately. For about 15 minutes it was tough to put much pressure on it. I stopped for a short break and when I began hiking it felt somewhat better. I didn't feel my boot getting tighter so I assumed it wasn't swelling. That was a relief.The long descent into Erwin was fairly tough but had great views of the town and the river. I met a few going south and they all asked how much more to the top. I like ascents but this was one I was happy to be going down. By 1300 I was standing on the bridge over the river waiting for Judy and the van from the Three Dog Hostel, also known as home. After a shower it was time to eat. I had a big salad then strawberry short cake. Sitting at home my ankle seems ok. I can feel something like a minor ache, but no pain. I'm keeping it elevated and will ice it later, and will see how it looks and feels tomorrow. As of now, I don't think it will be a problem. I'll be taking a few says off to rest, repair some equipment, possibly change some items, and do a few things around the house. Not much else to say. Take care. DaveMin Temp: 34.3Max Temp: 61.0Weather: Sunny all day
Date: 2008-04-15
To: Decisions, decisions...
Miles today: 0.0

   I walked around all winter with thoughts of the trail and of journaling in my head. I¢ve always been a very private person and one to stay off the web. But for the first time in my life, I began thinking that I could contribute something to the lives of the many people who yearn to hike the trail themselves, but whose circumstances prevent them from being able to do so. I know there are many people who are glued to trail journals, who live vicariously through the adventure of others, and so I thought that if I were so fortunate to be able to undertake this journey, I could give something back by keeping a public journal.       But then the doubts creep in¢¦ Do I really have anything to say that hasn¢t been said before about this trail? What could I possibly contribute that is new or different?Will I even have the energy to write something decent after a long day of hiking and setting up camp? I know I don¢t have nearly the same amount of energy of most of the people around me. I might not even be able to do this.      And then there is the question of whether I should even be attempting to hike the entire length of the AT at all¢¦ It¢s not a smart idea in many ways. It takes a huge toll on the body (the risk of injury is tremendous, it prematurely ages the body, causes nerve damage in toes¢¦ I like my feet the way they are now. I don¢t want them to get bigger!). Is my body even capable of handling such a task? I love to run, but it never takes long for my body to get injured. As slow as I start out and ramp up, an injury invariable occurs, causing a great deal of frustration. Ever since I started running in high school, it¢s been a continuous series of stops and starts. Groin injury. Knee injuries. Ankle injuries. Metatarsal stress fracture. You name it. I¢m always starting up, getting injured, healing, starting up, taking on a new injury, stopping¢¦          And then there is the issue of money. I don¢t own a single piece of gear. How will I afford all the gear I need, the cost of the journey itself, and the cost of maintaining my life back home all while earning no income? Is this really a smart and/or feasible idea?What am I thinking? Maybe I should be directing my energy elsewhere. The only problem is, I just can not get it out of my head! Ahhh¢¦ the life of a Pisces¢¦ Decisions are so hard for us! Which direction should we swim?¢¦
Date: 2008-06-18
To: Planning for my first backpacking trip!
Miles today: 0.0

      Sweetwater (¢07), the thru-hiker that I talked to at Pinkham Notch, advised me to borrow some gear for my first test to see if I enjoyed backpacking or not. It was a great idea, but unfortunately, I didn¢t know anyone who backpacked or who had any lightweight gear. So, with spring around the corner, and dates picked out for my first trip in June, I had no choice but to take the plunge. My first purchase (after the 2008 Thru-hiker¢s Handbook) was a second-hand Big Agnes SL1 tent. Thanks to Persistent (¢07) and Certain (¢07, ¢08), who are two of the few people who listed all of their gear, planning my list was made much more simple and easy than it would have been otherwise. I also bought a 20 degree down Western Mountaineering sleeping bag, which, along with being the most expensive purchase, is the piece of equipment I am most sure about. A Z-lite therm-a-Rest, an MSR pot/kettle, an ion stove from Sgt. Rock, a Go-lite purple frameless pack that Moonpie (¢08) seemed to love, Leki poles, and some Merill trail shoes rounded out my initial buys. Then, I waited for my friend, Erik, to fly up to Boston, and after setting up the tent and trying out the stove, we packed everything up and headed out to Vermont! My very first test point of whether or not the AT was in my future was just around the corner!
Date: 2008-06-22
To: A visitor in the night
Miles today: 0.0

   Minutes after I was ensconced in my sleeping bag, with the last light disappearing, I heard leaves rustling and twigs snapping. It must be Brother, I thought. Dodger had alerted us that another thru-hiker who goes by that name might be rolling into camp later on due to the big miles he had been pushing lately. I felt safe with these experienced hikers nearby. Perhaps I would at last be able to get a peaceful night¢s sleep out here. After a couple more minutes passed, I realized the sounds I heard were not Brother. It was some kind of animal encircling my tent! What could it be? A deer, maybe? I had heard stories of that happening from other hikers on the trail. I didn¢t think it was a bear. It didn¢t sound that large. Whatever it was, I wanted it to get away from me! I began to worry about my face wipes that I forgot to put in our bear bag. Dodger had told us that he always put anything with a flavored scent into his bear bag. I added my toothbrush and mug to our bag, but I had left my hand sanitizer and face wipes in my pack, which I had brought into my tent with me! Oh, no! What kind of mistake had I made? Step, step¢¦. Step, step¢¦in quick twos, it circled. I feared it would bite a hole right through my tent! What should I do? Throw my pack outside as an offering? No. I couldn¢t do that. I wanted to protect my pack as much as me. Suddenly, it nipped at my Tyvek ground cloth, creating a crinkle of rolling thunder. I yelped. Silence ensued. ¢Great,¢ I thought. ¢Now I have ruined the good image Dodger had of me¢. Yelping, tossing and turning, and creating disturbances all night long! How would he be able to get any sleep? And besides that, my cries were turning out to be useless, as no one was coming to my rescue. Step, step¢¦. Step, step¢¦ It was back! I lifted my ear off of my sleeping bag and opened my eyes wide. With all of my senses on alert, I would be better equipped to fend off the attack. The steps sounded like those of a bird. No four- legged creature would walk like that. But it didn¢t sound like your average bird. It was definitely bigger- probably a chicken of some sort. It pecked at my rainfly. I returned a tap on the cloth from the inside of my tent. Its movement stopped. Then I heard it going to work in the forest- collecting twigs- or whatever job was required of it. At least it had moved away from my tent, but why did it have to perform its duties then? Couldn¢t it have done this during the day while we were all hiking? I tried to calm my mind. I had not slept much during the previous two nights. The ground continued to be uncomfortable and on this night, I had the additional burden of throbbing pain emanating from the newly acquired welt on my shin. Step, step¢¦ step, step¢¦ The chicken had once again returned! I laid my hopes of a peaceful sleep to rest.(In retrospect, it must have been either a chipmunk or a porcupine! But, at the time, a chicken seemed like the only logical conclusion...)
Date: 2008-08-20
To: Time is running out
Miles today: 0.0

         Erik returned to North Carolina and for the remainder of the summer, I had no one to go backpacking with. Depression settled in and made itself at home. I lost my motivation for working out, and with no prospects for another trial trip, I felt it would not be possible to do the AT this coming March. It was coming too soon. One small trip was not enough. I had too much to learn. Most importantly, I needed to figure out if I really wanted to do this now. I was puzzled by the fact that here I was, thinking of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail with less than four days of experience, stuck inside by myself for the summer, while a multitude of others routinely got out for adventurous weekends and vacations. It just didn¢t make any sense.          But Erik found a way to travel up here in September to hike in the Whites for a few days, and I found myself with a chance to make a final decision...
Date: 2008-10-10
To: The Decision
Miles today: 0.0

   There is the risk you cannot afford to take, [and] there is the risk you cannot afford not to take.                                             -Peter Drucker      I must admit that I had visions of becoming the first person in the institute I work at to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. But then one day late in August, I learned that I had been beaten to it! Kevin (Sherlock ¢08) completed the trail on September 11, 2008. (Congratulations, Kevin! Way to go!) After the short-lived images of fame evaporated, I decided that my next decision maker or breaker would occur when I had a chance to talk to him about his experience. The opportunity came, and right away, he said that he would recommend it to anyone that had an interest. For two hours, he answered my questions and listened to my back and forth thinking, and still, I could not come to a final conclusion. Was it worth it to drain my bank account? Should I just concentrate on taking shorter trips in a variety of places? Should I wait until 2010? Maybe I should just focus on living a life with more balance and moderation, with the ability to participate in an assortment of activities. On the other hand, accomplishing a thru-hike would be so cool. It would be an incredible accomplishment that would provide me with a lifetime of strong memories, and I would have a chance to experience extraordinary acts of kindness that just don¢t seem to occur in our every day world. What should I do? How would I know what was best? My mind swirled.         In the days afterward, whenever I went to sleep, the trail dominated my dreams. One day, it was pouring rain outside. I took a nap and within minutes, I was transported to the trail with the same heavy rain falling around me. The rain didn¢t bother me as much in this mossy forest as it did in the city. I wasn¢t uncomfortable or wishing to be elsewhere. I think my subconscience was telling me something: Go do it! Go live!         My conscious mind was unable to make a final decision. It was too cautious. It was filled with too many rationalities and worries. There were too many reasons not to do it, too many dangers to avoid, too many risks involved. But my subconscious knew what it wanted to do. It wanted to reap the rewards that could only come from shedding all that was familiar and known and safe to me. It was time to take a leap. It was time to grow some more.         A couple of weeks later, I ran into Kevin in the hall and told him, ¢I think I¢m going to do it!¢ He was excited for me. I saw him again that afternoon and he told me that he would give me his number and that he was willing to drive as far down as New Jersey if I needed something. I was completely blown away. I could not believe that someone who had spoken to me only a few times, was willing to drive five hours to help me out! This AT family is really something special. Already, good things were coming my way as a result of this decision.         Now, how to decide between the Starlight and the Catalyst¢¦
Date: 2008-11-06
To: Two Hurdles Cleared
Miles today: 0.0

         Before embarking on this journey, there were two major factors for me to consider: could I take a leave of absence from work and was it financially possible to keep my apartment while I was away? Both were strong considerations.        I have lived in my apartment for nearly seven years and it has been my first real ¢home¢. It is the first place I have lived in which I feel both safe and free. I bought furniture for it, decorated it, and made it my own. I like its small, quiet town location- near the beach and train that takes me into work in the city. I couldn¢t imagine giving it up. If I did move out and got hurt on the trail, where would I go? I don¢t have a family to return to as most people have in times of need. I¢m on my own, without a safety net, and because of this fact, my apartment is all the more valuable to me.        I went to my landlord on the first of November and told him that I was seriously considering hiking the Appalachian Trail, but that I also would like to keep the apartment. Without a pause, he said that he would talk to his family to see what kind of break they could give me! I said that any amount would be a huge help. The following day, he called me back with an incredibly generous offer, saying that they wanted me to stay in the apartment! I could not believe the kindness being bestowed upon me!          Good things like this had never happened to me before. In the past, it seemed as though I was destined for the occurrence of bad things - that I would never be able to do the things I wanted to do- that life would always be an uphill battle. How could things have turned around so completely as a result of my choosing to walk this trail? How would I ever have known how certain people felt about me if I did not undertake such a monumental challenge?      I was not ready to tell my boss about my idea, but I did have another need: someone to post my journal entries! Erik would be my main support person and send off my mail drops, but he was too busy to manage my trail entries as well. From the moment I read Certain¢s offer to transcribe a journal for an ¢09 thru-hiker in return for the help she had received with hers, I¢ve had it in my mind to ask her if I could be that person. She mentioned this offer both at the beginning and end of her hike this year. I wanted to give her a chance to relax and adjust to life after her hike, so I waited a couple of weeks to contact her. However, I didn¢t want to wait too long and lose my opportunity. To my delight, she wrote back with the news that no one else had asked her, and offered to do so for me! Doors were opening in all directions! It had to be a sign!
Date: 2008-11-29
To: Back to REI
Miles today: 0.0

   I decided to head back to REI with all of my gear to see if it would fit into the Osprey Aura. Neither my tent nor my sleeping bag would fit lengthwise across the bottom! Oh, my goodness, what a struggle! I knew it looked too small! Paul (who thru-hiked the AT in 2000, I believe) found us and tried fitting everything in, but even he could not manage. He had to get a compression sack to stuff my extra clothes into in order to save space. I did find it quite amazing to see how much could fit into that little sack. But no amount of trying was going to work with that backpack. He did admit that they are very tubular and skinny.         The next option that he presented me with was the Gregory Jade. It was easier to pack than the Osprey, but still much less roomy than the frameless packs I had gotten accustomed to. He put a lot of things into the side pockets that I would have preferred to have inside the pack, and which left no room for my water bottles! He ended up laying my two liter collapsible water bottle on top of the pack, underneath the top enclosure. This situation caused me concern as I have read many accounts of water bottles leaking in packs. The pack did ride a lot higher on my back than the frameless ones and also had more back support. However, the hip belt pockets were too small for the things I needed to put in there.        I left it there and went home to contemplate my remaining options. It was now down to the Catalyst and the Jade.
Date: 2008-12-15
To: Hammocks
Miles today: 0.0

   Having the luxury to set up our tents in the shelters during our Thanksgiving trip caused me to think about my thru-hike shelter situation. Knowing that I would not have the option of setting up my tent in a shelter during bad weather because of the crowds of people, and not wanting mice jumping off my head and chewing up my gear if I had to stay in a shelter unprotected, I started thinking about hammocks again.       I hadn¢t given much consideration to using a hammock before because they were too foreign to me. A tent seemed more ¢normal¢, more simple, and more private. But I began to think about tenting in storms and about the limitations they impose on where you can stop and set-up. I was also concerned about the discomfort of lying on hard and uncomfortable surfaces for six months.        A hammock is not only more comfortable on your body, but it allows you more freedom on where to set-up. If you don¢t want to stop at a particular shelter early in the day, and it is too far to hike to the next one, you have the option of setting up a hammock anywhere in between. Since most of the trail is forest, it is often hard to find an open space to accommodate a tent set-up. Hammocks also offer more versatility in allowing you to camp alone if you prefer, or set up near others if you want company. They are also cooler than a tent in hot weather. All of the components necessary to keep you warm in a hammock do weigh more than a tent, but I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.        I had written to Certain with some questions about hammocking, and she offered to show me how to set one up if I was ever in her area. Well, it just so happened that I was headed south for the Christmas break, so I ordered my hammock, had it shipped to Erik¢s apartment, and made plans to get together with Certain!        There was only thing left to do: see if I could get a six-month leave of absence from work!
Date: 2008-12-19
To: Last Obstacle Overcome!
Miles today: 0.0

   All day, I contemplated whether I should tell my boss now about my desire for a six-month leave, or wait until after the holidays. I had walked down to his office earlier in the day, but found him in a meeting with someone else. It seemed as though I would have to wait. At six thirty in the evening, I was eating my dinner in the 6th floor kitchen when my boss came ambling down the hallway to check on the activity in the lab. He saw me, opened the door, came over to my table, and sat down. I told him about the state of my experiments and my plan for finishing them after the holidays. He didn¢t seem too concerned. Curious about when I would be away from the lab, he asked how much of a vacation I would be taking. After I told him that I would return on January 5th, he responded, ¢Wow! - A real vacation. Good for you!¢ I immediately thought to myself, ¢If you¢re so happy about that, wait until you hear what I have planned for next year¢¦!¢ Instead, I told him that I also had something else to tell him about. He said, ¢Well, now is a good time.¢ He had been in a particularly good mood of late. I asked what he thought about the idea of me taking six-months off. He thought for a minute, always careful with the words he chooses, and said that all of the experiments I do go smoothly and quickly, that I¢ve been here a long time, and that I deserve it. Before I had even told him why I wanted the time off, he said that I might not get the chance to do it later, that it was my life, and that I should do what I need to do. I was completely (but happily) shocked and very grateful. I had expected to have to explain and justify and debate my reasons for wanting the time off. I didn¢t think that he would understand, as he loves nothing more than working and doesn¢t have the pull or distractions of other interests to take him away from doing so. I often think he has a hard time understanding why other people do.               After receiving permission to take this leave of absence, I no longer had any excuses not to do this! The path had been cleared before me, and all I had to do was walk it (and learn how to hang a hammock, get in shape, write my trail journal entries, order and package my food, figure out my maildrops¢¦).       Once this last hurdle was cleared, the thought did occur to me that if this was the one opportunity I had to do this in my life, maybe I should hike the PCT instead! The views would be so much more spectacular! Or maybe I should hike Europe for that matter! Who needs to see the same kind of forest for six months that I can see any day? But then I settled down and realized the AT would be a perfectly fine first trip, and that I would be making my way back home.       Now to meet Certain, learn how to hang a hammock, and go test it out for myself!