morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-01-18
To: Picking a Date
Miles today: 0.0

This journal comes to you courtesy of the Cecil County Public School system. Got to love a planning period when you are a substitute! So everyone pulled out their planners, we discussed dates and availability, and who could go if we picked that day. Hey, kind of sounds like picking a wedding date. Nope, just picking my starting date. (March 14th - I wanted it to be the Ides of March, what can I say, Shakespeare was mandatory- but Monday worked better for everyone else.) The whole thing is like getting married. First, you make the decision to do IT. Then you announce your intentions to everyone. Some may support you, some may second guess your decision and ask, "Are you SURE this is what you want? Will it make you happy in the long run? Aren't you a little too young/old?" You start making a list of exactly what gifts you need - this is not the time to be receiving random crap. (you know, filler gifts) Everyone knows if they want to get you something...it must be off the list. Otherwise, money is just fine. (Wouldn't it be nice if you could do a Thru-hiker registry with Campmor or REI and everyone could chip in to buy you that really great ______ you wanted?) Gifts, especially money, can still be received up to 6 months after the big day. As the big day approaches, you make sure all of your affairs are in order. This will be a big change from the old life you knew. You double check your travel and hotel plans. If something fell through at the last minute it would ruin your whole vision of the way things were supposed to go. You make sure that your outfit is the ONE. (You know, the one you will be happy wearing everyday for 6 months.) You question over and over ... are these really the right shoes? Will there be someone to take pictures of your big day? You will regret it forever if you do not have at least one great picture of this day. For some it will be the first step in a new journey, the first day in a new chapter of their lives. For some it will merely be an affirmation of what has always made them happy and feels like home. Are you nervous? (of course) Are you excited? (You very well should be) The months ahead will certainly take work and effort, but it will be worth it for the fantastic, incredible days that make you tear up with happiness that this is your life. (Sorry - that was just wrong but hey some wedding stuff makes you want to gag too.) You know this will not be easy all the time, but you believe in it enough to try. And in your pack, you will surely have something Old, something New. You might even have something borrowed. (If not, count your rock from Springer for this - according to leave no trace rules it would be just WRONG to take the pebble- you are just borrowing it till you get to Maine.) Lack of ability to choose the color YOU want in the rainbow that is hiking gear will insure that you have something Blue. And yes, there has to be a Sex in the City tie in. This is like when Carrie said she was dating the city. Only it seems that we are marrying the trail. (Will it be a quicky divorce or a lifelong love affair?...stay tuned)
Date: 2005-01-22
To: Happy Birthday to Me!!
Miles today: 0.0

I'm offically 25 today. We went out to dinner last night to celebrate due to the oncoming blizzard. Thankfully, I escaped without having it announced to the whole place. It was done for the guy sitting directly behind me; I convinced my table that everyone yelling and staring at him was close enough. Now, on to the cake. It's going to be made completely from scratch this year because no one wanted to brave the lines at the grocery last night for a box mix. On the Philly news they had like 45 minute waiting lines to check out. As long as there are some Cadbury chocolate Mini Eggs lurking in the house for me, I'll be good to go. I just finished last year's stash because I saw them out in the stores again. Nothing like trying to rush the holidays. (Hint - if anyone wants to send me a maildrop with that manna in it, it will not be left in the hikers' box.)
Date: 2005-02-09
To: Weekend Hike
Miles today: 0.0

Wow, my taxes have NEVER been done this early! They have never even been completed in any other month than April. This weekend was great. With one last check of the weather (high of 50, no rain) I headed out the AT to try out all of my new gear. Once again, how did we ever hike without the Internet? It was just a quick five miles up to the shelter and five miles back the next day. Of course, at two miles an hour I don¢t know if quick is the appropriate word. I shared the shelter with four very amusing gentlemen. As males, the first thing they did was build a fire. This was also necessary to dry one guy¢s jeans, as they had wicked the melting snow so well. Somewhere in Maryland he is now starting the newest fashion trend, burnt edge jeans. As we pointed out to him, it¢s lucky he wasn¢t trying to dry the seat part. He would have had to sport a denim thong the whole way home. I learned a few things and am now in the process of changing a few things. I also tried freeze-dried food for the first time. It didn¢t kill me. I even went out and bought some more. But I still haven¢t figured out why they come in such bulky packages. My food drop area has started to grow tentacles and spread out. Time to pull out my drop boxes and corral it! Every time I go to the grocery store I can¢t help but eye the Lipton Noodles section. Basically a thru hike diet sounds like college. Bagels, pasta, peanut butter, granola bars, pizza when you can get it. Good stuff when your family sends care packages.One special note to the drivers I saw while driving: If you are on a major road (not I-95 south of Richmond, we¢re talking three lanes here) and traffic is passing you on BOTH sides, like water in a river flowing around a rock, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG LANE. Although, I do have to admit that 695 around Baltimore and 495 around DC are adventures all in themselves. We do drive way too fast. If you try to go the speed limit on 95 up here, you will probably 1) receive many dirty looks and 2) be driven off the road. After several speeding tickets (the cops in Williamsburg had nothing better to do) I only go 10 over. I¢m the slow one on 95. I really want to play with my pocketmail NOW! But you can¢t really play till you activate. As I only bought a 6 month plan, I need to hide it from myself till March at least. Yeah, hide it so well that I¢m standing in my room on the last day yelling, ¢So, nobody¢s seen my pocketmail? I¢m not leaving without it! I paid too much money.¢ I made a great little cover for it out of extra gore-tex. As my mom pointed out, maybe I shouldn¢t have used camouflage gore-tex. You set that bad boy down - Poof! it's gone. Maybe I¢ll find out if pink puffy paint will stick.... March is close now!
Date: 2005-02-12
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

First, if anyone wants to support a hiker who has a great cause, well it's not me, but check out Daniel Bailey's journal. He does have one.Second, I would like to say some thank yous. Thank you to everyone who signed my guestbook. I have not been able to e-mail all of you but I really appreciate your great thoughts. Thank you to my family who doesn't totally get this, but is driving me to Springer anyways. And can't stop talking about what Maine will look like when they come to pick me up. Thank you to Clint and Wendy, without your influence in my life I would have never have thought this could be something I would enjoy. Our camping trips together are some of my best memories. Lastly, thank you to M Company. Being able to listen to y'all (and sometimes talk) has been great. Come on, who else has their own website? J - if you read this, thanks for making me laugh so I don't become more obsessive and nervous each day as the 14th draws near.I've added a new goal for my thru hike. 1) Walk to Maine (kind of obvious I know) 2) Not send home anything at Neels Gap (away or ahead maybe, but not home) and 3) Not miss any opportunities due to shyness or inflexibility. This is the new one. Today I hit the local trails for some prep work. As I started out, I ran across a large group of people. I stopped and said hi, found out they were the Wilmington Trail Club, laughed at their joking suggestion I join them, and moved on. After all, I had my route planned out and it wasn't like I actually knew any of them. A mile later I was kicking myself. Even if they were only kidding about me hiking with them, they were happy people who would have gladly made room for one more. I could have gotten some great advice from experienced people. This group probably would have loved to find out I'm going to thru hike. Heck, they were probably the only people I've met who know what a thru hike even is. Who doesn't want to hear more encouragement? But no, I just kept on walking. Even then I should have turned around and run after them. So that's my new goal, not to miss out on something great because I was too afraid.
Date: 2005-02-23
To: School
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I've really liked substituting for the past year. It lets me work with kids without the responsibilities that a teacher has. It has also given me flexibility to hike whenever I want. That is why the past weeks have been a mixed blessing. I fell into a long-term job. It's great because I know that I will be working right up till the day I leave. I also have a slight increase in pay which is really great. But the flexibility - gone. And all of those responsibilities - mine. I actually work during my planning time and bring home things to grade. Middle school was always my least favorite to work at but after weeks with these 6th graders they are starting to grow on me. I know that I am going to miss them. Especially when they keep making me going away cards like this one!!!!! Not so much when I asked them to stop talking for the fifteenth time. I don't have to name names, they know who they are. This week I'm grading Fairy Tales they made up. And grading, and grading, and grading... Some of them are cute and some are absolutely hilarious. One of the best so far has a refrigerator as the main character. They use lines like "You couldn't hit water if you fell out of a boat!" For some reason I find this endlessly funny.The best part was when I told them about my trip. Many knew what the trail was and a few had actually been on it. Now sometimes that's all they want to talk about. Its a great feeling knowing I did my part to pass this dream on to the next generation. Or at least plant a few seeds.
Date: 2005-02-27
To: Lessons for the Trail
Miles today: 0.0

Today I got not only hiking experience, but also thru hiking experience.To practice for the AT, I usually take the same 6 mile trail at the nearby public park area whenever I can. At one point the trail runs behind someone¢s house. A caretaker maybe? They have two dogs in the backyard that bark at you nonstop until you are far out of their sight. Annoying, but not a problem. Today, the little black Pomeranian was off of its leash. Also, not a big deal if the dog is friendly. Turns out he hated me walking by his house everyday and now he had a chance to do something about it. I thought this one-eyed ankle biter was going to take me down. Like in Jurassic Park, if you showed weakness and fell, the little dinosaurs (Compys I think) would be all over you in a flash. I would have kicked at him (and I NEVER mistreat animals, in fact I tend to spoil them) but I was afraid he would get ahold of my shoe and not let go. Yes, he really did only have one eye, and the other was a crazy, maniacal blue color.Lesson #1: Fending off a vicious dog with your hiking poles. After that, my mother was nice enough to take me out to dinner. This is a very nice gesture because after hiking those 6 miles, I have a tendency to order drinks the size of my head and eat more than I used to eat in a day. We ran a few errands and headed home. The recently serviced van we rode in had other ideas. It died along a busy highway and would not restart. This is why I love having a AAA membership (besides the fact I used to lock my keys in my car a lot). We call with one cell phone, halfway through trying to direct the tow truck driver it dies. So we pull out another one. Good thing mine has at least half a charge because the driver doesn¢t speak English very well and can¢t find us. Then there is the do you tip or not dilemma. He¢s a tow truck driver, he gets paid to do this. But we didn¢t go off the road and made it home in one piece, so he got to keep the change. Though he did drift into the other lane while answering one of his two cell phones. Lesson #2: Riding in a truck with some guy who you don¢t know and can¢t really understand, to get where you need to go.Today was quite an adventure.
Date: 2005-03-04
To: Food and Journals
Miles today: 0.0

I¢m very surprised that my dehydrator still works. It has run for many hours at my house. It has also dried many interesting combinations of food. Right now there are 3 levels of kiwi and 1 of red cabbage. I have this huge fear that after I¢ve spent many, many hours peeling, chopping and drying food, I¢ll get out on the trail and not want any of it. It never ceases to amaze me how small it all becomes. A whole bag of matchstick carrots fits into a snack size baggy after drying it. (I may be crazy enough to dice tomatoes for days to get tomato bits, but not crazy enough to thinly cut hundreds of carrots when you can buy the bag for about 2 dollars.) Now the only question is will I still want them four months from now? Will Shrimp Creole and Broccoli Cheese Couscous still be good by Pennsylvania? I did not plan maildrops the whole way, just where most people recommended them. That was enough work as it was.I wish that I had known this much about dried food and cooking with a tiny alcohol stove two years ago. When the hurricane came through Virginia I lost power for a week. As work reopened before my power returned, I learned to take cold showers with a candle. The key word is quick. While I made out okay cooking with my fondue pot, if I had had the equipment and food I have now, that week would have been a breeze. My head lamp would have been the envy of all of my neighbors. Well, except for the ones who cheated and bought the super loud generators. Not surprisingly everyone who had one hooked up their TV. I miss being able to read everyone¢s trail journal. Last year I felt like I knew who everyone was and when they were going. I didn¢t read everybody¢s, but had at least visited most of them. Now that I¢m the one who is going, I don¢t read anyone¢s. I want to. I want to know who is going with me and where they are going to be. But now that it feels more important to read the journals, I have less time than ever to do it. I can¢t wait to get on the trail so I have time again to do nothing. Well nothing but eat, sleep, and walk that is. Now I understand why I got a blank stare when I asked Rally about the hikers I had read on trailjournals. That blank stare will become mine. Especially since there are new journals popping up each day. (Rally is a thru hiker I met in the Smokey Mts as she was just about to finish up. It was great to meet in person, a girl who had done it and didn¢t seem all that different from me. It definitely inspired thoughts that if she could do it and still be loving it at the end, then so could I.)
Date: 2005-03-05
To: Company Plugs
Miles today: 0.0

While I started drying food this summer, I¢ve waited till the past few months to find a new pair of hiking boots. The ones I¢ve been using are okay, but not thru hiking quality by any means. But I¢ve been having problems finding ones that fit well enough. After today I know why. You know it¢s bad news when Phil of The Phil Oren Fit System, the ultimate shoe and foot man, looks at your toes and shakes his head. The blissful ignorance I lived in before today was much better. I thought that I had good feet. No real problems or odd protrusions. I just needed better arch support and a good fit. I did learn at my Fit System appointment that you are not really supporting your arches, you are supporting some bone farther back. The fitter came to look at my foot measurements and said, ¢You need custom insoles.¢ Then he looked down at the flip flops on my feet and said, ¢Don¢t ever wear those again. They are destroying your feet.¢ He explained why and I understood, but I really think that if I had had other shoes with me he would have taken the flip flops and thrown them out the second story window. It turns out that I have very different foot parts all stuck together onto one appendage. Narrow heel but wide fore foot. Very low volume but long toes that require a bigger shoe. They even had to have a mini conference about what to do with me. Still no shoes¢¦¢¦..yet.Hudson Trail Outfitters has been fantastic about helping me. Since there was nothing in the store that could go home with me, the manager is checking inventory of other stores and getting in shoes. Shoes just for me to try on. I honestly could not ask for anything more. They have made it their personal mission to make my feet happy. Plus you get an instant rebate when you spend your money there. I can always find something to spend extra money on. Another company who has been great to me is Anitgravity Gear. Got a question? Tin Man will answer it. Want something special? He will probably try to get it or make it for you. From the start, he gave me the feeling that he does this for the love of hiking, not to make money. He has a booth at Trail Days and didn¢t mind showing me how an alcohol stove worked, even though I¢m sure he¢s shown a million people. Sometimes it¢s hard to ask questions that show how little you know about hiking, when you are surrounded by people who seem to know everything about hiking. Hopefully I will get to say hi to him at Trail Days this year. Plus my family knew that it was safe to order me almost anything from that site for Christmas. At least I was able to get a few surprises that way.The search for shoes will continue tomorrow.
Date: 2005-03-06
To: Gear List
Miles today: 0.0

My gear list and weights:Pack 4 lbs 8 ozBag/Liner 2 lbs 8 ozTent 2 lbs Sleep Pad 1 lb 9 ozSitting Pad 3.7 ozRope and Clips 5 ozKitchen 1 lb 0.3 ozSpices/Food Bag 3 ozAqua Mira 3.5 ozPlatypus 2 ozWater Bag 2 ozSmall Nalgene 3.2 ozCamera 9 ozPocket Mail 8.3 ozLight and Compass 2.6 ozMaps/Paper 5.8 ozWallet 1 ozFirst Aid/Repair Kit 9 ozToiletries 1 lbPack Cover 7 ozRain Coat 11.2 ozRain Pants 8.2 ozCamp shoes 13 ozCarried Clothes 2 lbs 10.7 ozTotal : 22 lbs 5 ozWater 2 lbs 8 ozFuel 10 ozFood 4 lbs 5 ozTotal: About 30 lbsThis is doable. I was hoping for much less, but can¢t seem to get there. Of course my summer will be much lighter. But hopefully by then 30 lbs will seem like nothing!!
Date: 2005-03-07
To: One Week
Miles today: 0.0

A year ago I read many, many journals wishing I could be those people or at the very least hang out with them. In less than a week I will get my wish. At this point there is nothing really left to do. Well, get good shoes, but I¢m working diligently on that one. Hudson Trail Outfitters doesn¢t seem to have my size, so it¢s on to REI. Of course I have to go to the one above Philly that is an hour and a half away, but I¢m thinking that the harder I have to work to get these shoes, the better my chances are that they will fit. It¢s a law, the inexpensive, easy to find shoes never fit.I¢m a little scared, but I¢ve set something in motion that probably couldn¢t be stopped even if I wanted to. I¢ve talked to too many people who expect to see me there. I¢m not really thinking of not going, I¢m just crazy nervous. I¢m also worried about there being too many people at the beginning. I can set up my tarp tent but I really want the ease of sleeping in a shelter the first few nights. With earplugs of course, I¢m a light sleeper and the snoring drives me crazy. Mostly I think I¢m afraid of looking like an idiot. And the more people that are around, the more people will notice when I botch something. I¢ve tried very hard to learn as much as I can this past year. And I¢ve tried to get miles of real hiking experience but I still feel like all of my new friends know so much more than I.Mostly I just need to learn not to be too embarrassed to ask if there is a privy. It feels like that horrible moment that I think happens in every little girl's life.   You know, the one that occurs when you are at a grown-up party and need to use the bathroom. You pull your mother WAY down and furtively whisper directly into her ear that you need to use the bathroom. You think your mom will know, because at that age moms are the oracles of all information. Instead, she turns and loudly asks the host, who is standing MANY feet away ¢Where is the bathroom?¢ and most of the time, just to be clear, she adds that it's you that needs to use it, not her. As an adult we see that this should not be mortifying. Most of us would probably do the same thing as the mother now. As a little kid it¢s awful to go through. I wonder if this happens to little boys, I¢m pretty sure they just don¢t care. They just want to go play in the sink.
Date: 2005-03-10
To: Countdown
Miles today: 0.0

While I still think Hudson Trail Outfitters has been great, they ultimately failed me in the shoe department. I ended up driving to the REI in Philly to get shoes. The funny part is that I bought the same ones in the same size then I returned them to the REI in Baltimore last week. At least it was worth it to meet the saleswoman who helped me. First of all, when I called and explained my dilemma, she (Jody) agreed to stay late on Tuesday just to see me. She helped me learn even more about the way that shoes fit and sympathized with having odd feet. Most importantly her son thru hiked a few years ago. Stories about helpful Angels and Katahdin climbs always help. Especially since I don¢t personally know any successful thru hikers (or even unsuccessful hikers) to tell me these stories.   So now I¢m wearing my boots everywhere frantically trying to break them in before I go. I know the cardinal rule of ¢Break your boots in before you go¢ and I had every intention of following it. Things just don¢t always work out how I¢d planned.I did my food drops last night. Okay, I did the first half of my drops. I know that I¢m coming home for a day or two at Harper¢s Ferry so I¢ll organize the rest then. Besides, isn¢t it better to wait till I actually know what I¢m doing? I also found out that I had way too much food with too much variety. It just sits in these big piles in my room refusing to find its way to the appropriate box. Where is Mary Poppins when you need her? She would have waved her umbrella and magically saved the day. Why couldn't we have real magic in our humble mortal lives? At least Trailjouranls makes it so easy to post your mail drop schedule. And then of course print that out as your labels. People are actually starting to leave for Springer!!! The Jaws music quietly plays in the back of my head. At least I¢m leaving Friday afternoon and not hiking the trail till Monday. This gives me a few days to relax knowing that it¢s all out of my hands. Anything not packed will stay not packed. Plus I'm pretty sure I can practice putting all of my stuff in my pack while my mom drives. While wearing my headlamp of course. It also gives me a few days to remember all of the things I forgot and find somewhere to buy them. I always have those moments where I¢ll be thinking of something completely different and staring out of the car window when out of the blue I¢ll remember I forgot to pack _________.   It would help if I would stop wearing the clothes I'm going to take and not wear my headlamp around the house when everyone else is sleeping. If I forget my headlamp in the basement because I went to check my email at one in the morning I will have no one to blame but myself. I truly cannot believe this is really going to happen.