morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2016-02-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Hello! I hope you enjoyed my first journal entries that covered my Ice-Age-Trail preparation hike. I realize that my introduction was somewhat brief. I wanted to get a little substance recorded before I spent 30 days writing about my hopes and fears. Full disclosure: I am not a writer. As a civil engineer I can write detailed memo¢s explaining why another $10,000 for pavement repair is justified, but my general writing skills are largely untested.I don¢t think I am breaking any rules by writing this journal directly to the Trail Journals audience. While word for word transcriptions of actual journals are valuable as historical artifacts, I find them to be a bit drier than a format that acknowledges the audience. So I intend to do both, covering the facts of the day as well as my thoughts. I would skip the pre-hike entries altogether, but I think they serve a purpose to document a hiker¢s personality and gear selections before the hike begins. It¢s also a good way to identify the nutballs and space out your start date. I am aiming to leave just before the fattest part of the bubble, and I intend to hike painfully slowly, so there¢s no avoiding this nutball.Preambles aside, I have made the dreaded notifications. I braced myself for ridicule, but did not receive any. In fact, I was overwhelmed by positive responses and offers of support. I think some people were concerned about whether this was the best thing I could be doing with my time, but I¢m going to put that response under the ¢genuinely cares about my well-being¢ column.I have been told that my job will be waiting for me when I come back, so I am very thankful for that. I am assigned to a long-term project right now that could actually benefit from a temporary reduction in manpower.¢¢¦I do not see coincidence, I see providence. I see purpose. I believe it our fate to be here. It is our destiny. I believe this night holds for each and every one of us, the very meaning of our lives.¢Morpheus ¢ The Matrix Reloaded Happy packing.
Date: 2016-02-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

A great trailname is given by someone else on an actual trail. It is memorable, short, easy to pronounce, related to a specific event that actually happened, summarizes your personality, is cool, and has never been used before. If starting the Appalachian trail without a trail name, one should be dreamed up and accepted within about one week max, and changed no more than one time.At least those are the rules I¢ve gathered after reading journals over the last few years. Of course hitting every one of those categories is nearly impossible, but it seems like that¢s the target. I¢ve ¢accepted¢ the trail name ¢Spaghetti Legs¢. It was given to me by my parents as a child while walking along the Oregon coast (sort of a trail). It is memorable, a little too long, but easy to pronounce, and related to my actual childhood beach-walking habit of collapsing to convince my Dad to carry me on his shoulders. It is sort of related to my personality, is moderately cool, and hasn¢t been used on Trail Journals yet. So I like it.On a separate note, you may have been wondering about the snake I wrote about in my first journals entry, aka The Serpent of Scuppernong. My internet research indicates the snake was an Eastern Hognose Snake, also commonly known as a Puff Adder. The snake is very common (although interestingly is considered threatened in Canada). It is non-venomous to humans, but has rear facing fangs and venom that affects toads specifically. The snake is known for raising up its head and flattening its body out like a cobra and hissing. That¢s what this one did, and once I saw that I was long gone. Apparently it was bluffing and almost never bites humans. The coloration varies wildly. This one just happened to have similar striping patterns to an eastern massasauga rattlesnake. Similar enough that I didn¢t want to linger, anyway.Every great story seems to begin with a snake.-Nicolas Cage
Date: 2016-02-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

The saying goes, ¢Hike your own hike¢. But we still obsess over everyone else¢s hike to make sure we are not missing out on some innovative way of doing things. So, in case you¢re planning to copy my hike, here¢s my major gear selections and rationale for choosing them. Please bear in mind that I only have 52 miles of backpacking experience, and my knowledge is almost all theory at this point. Copy at your own risk.I¢m usually not interested in taking chances on newfangled gear options or backpacking methods. I am intending my hike to be a close replica of other successful thru-hikes. I favor a lot of gear that won awards in 2011 or 2012 and was then used by successful thru-hikers over the last several years. My tent for example is a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2. I have read that this was one of the most common tents used by thru-hikers a couple years ago. It has an extremely low weight for an actual enclosed tent. It¢s about 4 pounds lighter than the one which I was graciously loaned for my October hike on the Ice Age Trail. My bag is an Osprey Atmos AG 65. I have also read this is commonly used by thru-hikers. It¢s big enough for my Bear Vault 500, but that¢s a story for another pre-hike entry.This is the base I started with, but I am not completely boring. My sleeping bag is a Marmot Trestles 30 Synthetic sleeping bag. This was copied from Craig (Affirm) Tsao¢s gear list. He has a very helpful story of failing to close his Camelbak completely, and soaking this same model of sleeping bag. He said that even though it was wet, it still kept him warm that night. That was a big factor in choosing synthetic over down for me. It seems like most people have to sleep in a wet sleeping bag at some point, and I¢d rather be warmer when that happens. I am also on the outer fringes of the temperature rating compared to other people. I have tested this out down to 35 degrees, and I was plenty warm, so I think I could handle another 15 degrees or so without being too cold. I tend to sleep at oven temperatures. Time will tell.Regarding footwear, I am also going completely against the grain and will start with the Asolo Men¢s TPS 520 GV backpacking boots. I understand I¢m going to look like a dayhiker out there, but I can¢t stomach the idea of walking through melting snow in mostly mesh trail runners. I realize I am basically strapping on ankle weights, but boots are supposed to last longer, and these should theoretically prevent my toes from jamming against the front of my footwear on declines and my toenails falling out, which frightens me more than bears for some reason. Those are the big four. I hope it helps. ¢If you believe the purpose of life is to only serve yourself, then you have no purpose. Help someone today!¢Paul Blart - Paul Blart Mall Cop 2
Date: 2016-03-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Why?The mountains are calling, and I am answering the call. I think they¢ve been calling for some time, but I didn¢t understand initially. The unidentified urge probably started just after graduating college. Knowing nothing about backpacking, I felt compelled to assemble a ¢survival backpack¢, fill it full of impractical nonsense, and keep it close by at all times. I briefly tried to set up an online camping store and quickly abandoned the effort. Then routine settled in and the desire lay dormant. Then, years later, in a travel stop in Burns Harbor, Indiana, I happened across ¢Hiking Through¢ by Paul Stutzman. It¢s an Appalachian Trail memoir focusing on using the trail to get through a period of grief. I was hooked, and began reading more hiking books and found the Trail Journals website. After years of this, my wife suggested we incorporate a visit to Springer Mountain into a family visit / road trip last Memorial Day weekend. She later told me that she was hoping that I would see it and stop building it up in my head as something more than it was. Seeing Springer Mountain did nothing to decrease my focus on the Appalachian Trail. On the contrary, it made it seem possible. It became a place that could actually be reached by a real person. We decided that I needed to at least have several days of overnight backpacking experience if I was going to commit to six months of overnight backpacking. I hiked through Waukesha County (detailed earlier in this journal) on the Ice Age Trail. After reflecting, the parts of it that I enjoyed the most were the parts most like the Appalachian Trail. I liked dropping into the woods for hours of isolation, popping out at occasional scenic overlooks. There was no one moment at which the decision was made. A lot of conversations were held about desires, dreams, and logistics. It developed from a crazy plan to an optional plan to the assumed plan. All of this is to say, I don¢t feel that I developed a plan to do this. I feel like the plan developed me until I was ready to say yes.Ultimately, I¢m hiking to be a better version of myself. There¢s a part of me that¢s fearless, kind, and trusting. There¢s a part of me which is extraordinarily strong and can persevere no matter the challenge. There¢s a part of me that climbs mountains, sings loudly at inappropriate times and writes poems to make people laugh. There¢s a part of me that makes peace and restores calm. This hike is to bring out the best parts of me. I want to endure pain and suffering without quitting. I want to face fear head on. I want to talk to God and hear the replies. I want to live as the best version of myself and live with joy.
Date: 2016-03-13
From: Amicalola Falls State Park

To: Springer Mountain
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I suppose this trip began Friday afternoon. My wife and I elected to drive a rental car to Amicalola Falls State Park, stopping in Southern Illinois to take advantage of the wonderful hospitality of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.Saturday was a long day of driving. Between the accidents on the highway which required rerouting and multiple breaks for meals, snacks, and bathroom breaks, we finally made it to the Amicalola Falls Lodge around 10:00 pm local time. The room was very nice which was good, because we weren't in the mood to hunt for another place to stay.It was a double time-zone / daylight savings time whammy this morning.      Following a buffet breakfast, the final pack was assembled and we headed over to the visitor's center where I checked in as #625 northbound. After a few tips and tricks and a short lecture on carrying too much water, I weighed my bag: 41 pounds shall I carry.A few photos were taken and some difficult goodbyes were said. My wife saw me off and visited some family in the area before catching her Atlanta flight home.My first significant obstacle was the 600 stair trip up the falls. Very scenic, very strenuous for my physical fitness level. The good news is that after an hour of artery-throbbing work, the trail became more hospitable. However, there were still some inclines that never seemed to end.I finally reached Springer Mountain's summit around 4:45pm after starting the approach trail at 11:12am. Why so late? I guess I'm slow at getting ready, and need to work on that. There was a group of about 15-20 people just relaxing at the summit. I signed the register and walked on a bit further to the camping area where I got to practice setting up camp with no picnic table or too many other luxuries.I managed to "cook" myself some freeze-dried pasta primavera before securing my best canister to a tree. I'm a bit nervous about this, but hope for the best. A beautiful great spring gushed from the aptly named Springer Mountain, and I resupplied my water.The weather today was absolutely perfect. I'm not sure how well I would have fared if it was thunderstorming which was predicted for today only a few days ago. It was also great to use my Crocs for the first time. They are handy camp shoes, and it was good to get out of my boots. I'm learning that the mountains take on a different personality depending on what you need. Whereas before it was the benevolent voice like Gandalf's gently urging that the song must be taken to Mordor and destroyed, today it was the voice of the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket: "You call yourself a thru-hiker? Go over to those stairs and climb 175 of them! Done? Give me 175 more!" I'm looking forward to tomorrow's hike. It's mostly downhill from here!
Date: 2016-03-14
From: Springer Mountain

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: light rain

Last night was a success. The tent and all systems held. The tent was actually large enough to pack my sleeping bag and mat without exiting the tent. I got an early start, exiting camp around 8:00 am, but I went 0.2 miles back to get some more Springer Mountain photos. I left around 8:15am. It was a pleasant 4 miles of descent. I paid for it over the next four miles of steady climbing. I arrived at Hawk Mountain Shelter at 1:20pm. I called it a day hiking-wise (This was my planned stop). My intention is to take it slow and let my body adapt. Tomorrow is another short day, but includes Sassafras Mountain which has a reputation for weeding out thru-hikers.I've decided to sleep in the shelter tonight instead of tenting. I would estimate around 25 to 30 people are tenting. I have the shelter to myself! It was lively and crowded in the shelter as everyone piled in to cook and eat dinner out of the rain. All day hiking, the weather was good, but there were some short afternoon bursts of rain. Hopefully mice aren't attracted to little crumbs of food...
Date: 2016-03-15
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Gooch Mountain
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Apparently mice do like little crumbs of food. I couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep in last night. I couldn't have gotten more than 2 hours of sleep. Around 1:30 am, I was lying awake and was a dark shape scurry in front of my face, about 2 feet away. After that I was really awake. Fortunately they were mostly interested in another guy's bag who left it there to keep it dry. So, since I had the shelter to myself, I quietly got packed up. I was in the first batch of hikers to leave. Surprisingly, I think I was only passed a few times. I encountered my first bit of semi-trail magic when a guy in a "yellow blazin'" truck showed up and asked it I needed water. He had stockpiled a couple gallons on the other side of Sassafras mountain.Fortunately, I didn't need any since I am still insisting on taking surplus water. My legs felt a lot better on today's mountains, and it wasn't until the early afternoon that I began to get really tired. The temp was somewhere around 80 degrees today, and the you Georgia sun was only partially filtered by the trees without leaves. When I got to Hooch Mountain shelter, placed for tents were already filling up at around 2:00pm when I arrived, so despite wanting to take a nap in the shelter, I picked out a prime spot and set up my tent. I'll forego the shelter tonight.There are a lot of people here. Some are part of the big March 15th start at Springer. The shelter lots are an interesting read. If I got the story right, someone lost a black Croc. Someone else found it, thought it was theirs before realizing the mistake and hanging it in another branch with a "sorry?" note. The whole story wasn't revealed until reading the shelter log. That's entertainment here.A couple things so far that have surprised me: The 360 degree panorama of mountains is not captured by single photos. Also... this is very hard work. I would compare the effort of hiking 8 miles in the mountains to doing 5 hours in an elliptical machone, 3 of those at max incline, resistance level 10. Tomorrow my schedule is flexible based on how I'm feeling, hopefully inspired and with inexhaustible energy.
Date: 2016-03-16
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Lance Creek Campground
Miles today: 8.5

I slept well last night for the first time. Partly it's the tent that helped, partly the weather was just about perfect, and partly my body has given up some of its demands to be comfortable. I used the breathe-right strips for the first time, and while effective (I'm guessing) they seemed to open a passage to a mucus underworld. My nose ran last night like no one's business. My down jacket which I was using for a pillow was more like a slip-n-slide. I solved the problem by sleeping on my ultra-absorbent camp towel.Nose drama aside, I got a lot of rest. I got packed up and was on the trail by 8:45. I said goodbye to "Geezer", a 70 year old thru-hiker who camped beside me and I made my way up the mountains.There were two stunning overlooks today. Pictures were taken. My phone charger has run out of juice so I am only turning the phone on to text and take photos. Reception isn't that good either, so Trail Journal entries may be delayed. The big news of the day was Trail magic near Woody Gap. Someone had everything from hot dogs to oranges to brownies. I had an orange, a brownie, and a coke. Also, since there was a trash can at this location, I got to dump all of the trash I've accumulated this week. If you want to hear something strange, about an hour away, I thought to myself, I could really use an orange right now. Multiple people had the exact same thought before unexpectedly finding trail magic oranges.My body is really adapting to mountain hiking. The experienced hikers say day 4 is about when things start to get a little easier, and for me, things were much more enjoyable today.I reached Lance Creek Campground around 2:15pm. There are very few spots here, so people are camped on top of one another and at its angles. Our cluster of tents became the common area for people to gather. There are a lot of people to meet and stories to share. I seen to be traveling at the same pace and enjoy their company. The weather has been phenomenal with sunburn being the biggest threat. Tomorrow I face Blood Mountain before reaching my intermediate goal of Neels Gap. I would rate today as my highlight of the trail so far.
Date: 2016-03-17
From: Lance Creek Campground

To: Neel Gap
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

A lot happened today. We woke up at Lance Creek Campground around 5:30am. I was with Diligent and Sparkles and then Kalil and Rich who had not yet adopted the name DJ Trailmix. We hiked about an hour by headlamp up the slopes of Blood Mountain. The area we were going through was known for its high risk of bear encounters. The weather was chilly and windy enough for a down jacket. It was my first try at hiking in a group, but my natural pace is slower uphill, so I found myself falling behind. It was something like a 1600' elevation gain over about 4 miles, with little reprieve.I have officially developed a cold, which put a damper on my day. The peak of Blood Mountain had great views, and even a show-off airplane buzzing the trees near the mountain and doing a few tricks.I forgot to mention that yesterday I just left the trail magic at Woody Gap when A.T. YouTube celebrity "Seven" who does the hiker-trash videos was on site doing interviews for his annual Thru-Hiker videos. After making it down the steep side of Blood Mountain, there was a large group of hikers assembled at Neel Gap, most of whom has passed me earlier in the day. There was a flurry of resupply activity. Most of my former group is moving on to a campsite about a mile from here. I desperately needed a shower and laundry and the best chance at a decent night's sleep, so I elected to sign up for a bunk. There was one washing machine and dryer so I split a $5 load with Texas and Umgawa and we thoroughly reviewed each others sock and underwear preferences to avoid any misunderstandings or drafty mornings.The whole laundry process took longer than expected, so I missed my window to resupply, but I understand it opens tomorrow at 8:00am, so that's the new plan. There was some great trail magic at the hostel- Chick-Fil-A and cookies. People seen to be very generous and supportive of thru-hikers.Tomorrow's plan is to go about 11 or 12 miles, which is bigger but doable. I was relieved to finally be able to charge my phone and charger. I also took some Benadryl so that I can avoid another nasal episode. After resting for 5 or 6 hours, I'm feeling better and am hoping for a great day tomorrow.
Date: 2016-03-18
From: Neel Gap

To: Low Gap Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I liked the Mountain Crossings Hostel at Neel Gap. For $18 I wasn't expecting much, but I got a bunk, a recharge on my phone and charger, and a shower. I contributed $2 to share someone else's load (no one wants change) of laundry. There is a unique symphony of noises in a bunkroom that takes getting used to... The various snoring cadences, the rustling as 20 people roll around in their sleeping bags on plastic lines mattresses, The coughing, etc... But despite all that, I managed to get a decent night's sleep.I notched a new hole in my belt this morning. I thick it's half due to losing weight and half because my waist-belt on my pack is shifting my fat elsewhere. After the myriad of packing up operations were completed, I bought some food and fuel and a winter hat & gloves. I actually forgot the hat and gloves for the start of my trip and fortunately haven't needed them.Now I am fully equiped which is good because it's supposed to get a little colder. My cold was kept under control mostly today. Occasionally I was coughing. I teamed up with Geezer all day today. His 70 years of age and my general lack of cardiovascular fitness tend to give us a pretty even pace. He is also pleasant to talk to. We will probably keep a similar schedule for at least the next few days. He is a long distance bike rider and cross country coach, so he is in pretty good shape.It was a long day of hiking for us, about 12 miles. There were great scenic overlooks, a lot of uphills, and a lot of downhills. We finally rolled into camp around 4:20 pm after leaving at 8:30 am. It was good to see Diligent, Sparkles, David, and Sara already camped among many other familiar faces.Dinner was eaten, water was filtered, and my campsite was made as ready as possible for rain expected tonight. That will be my first time getting rained on in a tent (on this trip), so it should be interesting. Anyway, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to call that a journal entry.
Date: 2016-03-19
From: Low Gap Shelter

To: Rocky Mountain Campground
Miles today: 11.1

The dreaded rain was a non-event. We woke up, most of us well rested, after a pleasant night. Cough drops and Benadryl are being taken at night to get through the last parts of this cold.Geezer and I made a plan last night to hike from Low Gap to Rocky Mountain. This meant passing up a perfectly nice shelter area around 1:30pm and hiking about 2 miles down steep terrain to Unicoi Gap, where some semi-roadside camping was also available, and then 2 miles up steep terrain for camping in Rocky Mountain. It was a stretch for both of us, but I think it was a good one because it split up Rocky Mountain and Tray Mountain to different days. The weather was overcast today and varied from windy and chilly to warm in pockets of sun. Occasional rain was spit in our direction, but nothing substantial.11.1 miles were hiked today: 43.2 (Low Gap Shelter)- to 54.3 (Rocky Mountain)