morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-08-02
From: Galehead Hut

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Quick note: I have not had good service lately and always have low battery. I am behind on responding to a lot of emails and messages. Sorry! Please understand. I am not trying to be a jerk. I just have limited resources. I have been getting lots of amazing suggestions and things. Please know that I do read and REALLY appreciate them, even if I don't respond. I will do my best when I have time!
Date: 2015-08-03
From: Galehead Hut

To: Mizpah Spring Hut
Miles today: 21.1

I lost my guidebook pages This means that I will have to check my phone for the PDF version tomorrow as I climb Mt Washington.So brief journal tonight to save battery.Lots of tough climbs and descents today. Also, amazing beautiful views. I have a love-hate relationship with the Whites...SO MANY MOUNTAINS!I feel extremely lucky that I have achieved work-for-stay again because I see lightning flashing outside. Have to wait until after breakfast to work which sucks. It will be a late start tomorrow, which I hate. BUT it will probably be worth it because I think it might pour tonight.Also lucky I have avoided chafe the last two days.Merrells squeezed my toes a bit more today but still seem good.I am very smelly. Also homesick. Also awesome. MY LEGS ARE SO STRONG.I am thankful for work and dinner and being dry (watch, it won't even rain, and I will regret not stealth camping).I really hope that the weather tomorrow is not as forecasted because I really want to be able to get over Washington.Hopefully I can charge this thing soon. I don't even have any idea when I will be getting a shower. I have no plan. The Whites are hard to plan.UPDATE: SO MUCH LIGHTNING AND RAIN. HOORAY FOR THE HUT! I played Yahtzee with Chappy, Twiggy Ninja, and Swahili while Rise wandered around. Diesel was lucky to arrive before the rain, too!
Date: 2015-08-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

This post is out of order but totally necessary. Iso just brought me trail magic! He said that it was a thank you for what he received in CT (credit for that goes to my friends and family). And it is all of the things I always want most (he was listening!): fruit, veggies, and chocolate milk. And, of course, M&Ms. I already had pizza AND ice cream today but I couldn't keep myself from digging into those M&Ms... Good thing there are still nearly 300 miles left to make up for ally snacking.Tomorrow will be another amazing day of eating. I am enjoying it while I can, I promise!I have a huge, amazing family at home. Especially since starting the trail, it is like my family has grown as my hometown has banded together to support me. Carol and Eddie laughed that the Aussie Legs had called them my relatives in their blog, but I thought it was very appropriate. "You might as well be!" I told them. There are stronger bonds than blood, bonds of trail magic and pizza shirts and $20 bills. I have never been so rich in my life. If there is one best lesson the trail teaches, it's that people being more happiness than money and STUFF ever can.But I digress. I have a huge awesome family at home. Out here on the trail, though, I have a second family. It is smellier, and just as messy, and also huge. It is spread all over, just like any other family. It is a family of strangers and acquaintances. It is a family of hikers, the amazing people chasing that 2189.2 mile dream. It is the most magical family, of people willing to sacrifice CLIF bars to fellow hikers who planned poorly, who offer extra water to others so they don't have to hike to the spring, and who run the dirt out of each other's elbows after they take a tumble on the rock tenderizer in Pennsylvania. Never before in my life have I experienced such constant kindness and reciprocation.I am honored to be a part of this bizarre, magical family. I hope that I am able to do half as much for them as they have done for me. I am happy that I will be in their midst for 300 more miles. They will be in my heart forever.
Date: 2015-08-17
From: Little Bigelow Lean-to

To: Pierce Pond Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

So... shelters usually have strings hanging, with an upside down can tied partway up, so that you can hang your food bag and the hungry little mice can't get to it.AT THIS SHELTER, THERE IS ONE FOOD BAG HANGER THAT HAS A HALLOWEEN JACK-O-LANTERN ON IT. I think it is quite appropriate for my sugary sugary food bag.So amazingly random and awesome.
Date: 2015-08-21
From: Shaw's, Monson

To: Shaw's, Monson
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up early for my last shower, then got back into bed to eat my granola, having opted out of the hostel hiker breakfast. The weather was wet and gloomy. Bed is warm and dry.I don't want to leave.I feel anxious and nervous, heartbroken and homesick. This is the end. I may not be able to contact home for a week. I am on my own.Not really. I have my hiker friends to camp with at night, but still... I hike alone, and this is my journey. This week will be the culmination of months of work and preparation and hiking and weight gain.And I just want to go back to sleep.I am so comfortable in this bed! Hiking in the rain is not comfortable. It is wet and sweaty and gross. My feet will be soggy and smelly. My clothes will be soaked.And the shuttle to the trail doesn't leave until 8:30, so I will also be at risk of not getting a shelter spot. Yuck, wet tent! I have become a shelter rat lately, hanging out with the Aussie Legs in the evenings.I just don't want to get up. I don't want to wear those clothes.The thing is, I of course knew that I only have one more week of discomfort. And I know I can do it. And I know that it isn't really THAT bad. I actually usually enjoy it. But this time, I have to go a long, long time without a shower.But beginning a day in the wet just sucks. Coupled with the emotion of entering the last week of the hike, and I just want to curl up and pretend it isn't happening. BUT IT IS.And I will get up. And I will put on my boots. I will get in the cat and put my feet on that trail. After a few miles, I will feel better. I will arrive at the shelter and find good company. I will cook my dinner next to friendly faces. In a week, I WILL climb Katahdin. And I will climb down. And I will give my mom the smelliest hiker hug she will ever endure.I might cry a little first, though.So, off I go, into the mysterious muddy Wilderness.I really hope I don't end up having to dig a poop hole in the rain today.
Date: 2015-09-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

The post-hike troubles continue (but really aren't that bad).My body actually felt better this morning. Less stiff. Less tired. I didn't even hobble that much!My biggest post-hike issue, which is no surprise, is the eating. Sugar is addicting and my attempts to wean myself off of it and return to a healthy eating pattern have thus far been unsuccessful.I hate the idea that I am continuing to gain weight, but it is happening. I am trying not to stress over it too much. As my pizza fairy told me in this evening's pep talk, "Life is too short." It hasn't even been a week since my hike ended. My body still roars for candy and carbs every two hours, stuck to the same old snack routine. And sitting around the house sorting clothes, doing laundry, and staring at my computer screen like a zombie trying to find the willpower to update my resume leaves that snack cabinet just so easily reachable...I did get out today. BABY STEPS! I dragged my bike out, filled the tires, and embarked on the epic journey to the library (a whole mile and a half away) to visit my mom and check out books.I also went to pick up my Katahdin prints. I did a test run to make sure they would come out okay before ordering a zillion. It is AT custom to, on the completion of a thru-hike, print up pictures of yourself on that sign, and mail them out to EVERYONE. It is how you celebrate victory, let everyone know that you actually made it and aren't a corpse rotting in the wilderness (even smellier than a living hiker!). Almost any hiker hostel or AT establishment will have a wall or board (or, in the case of Kincora, a ceiling) plastered with the faces of hikers reveling in those last few moments of their journey.The pictures not only convey the message of "I did it!", but are a way of saying thank you. I have a lot of people to thank, so I need a lot of pictures.I also did chores. And ate too much. And took a nap. And ate too much again. This was something I struggled with BEFORE the trail (I swear, hiker hunger hit during my training period), and I expected the issue to continue post-trail. I am a girl. Anxiety and emotion make me even HUNGRIER. This is no excuse, but I keep my fingers crossed that I will get back into the swing of things in time.At this point, back in real life, it almost feels like the trail never happened. It's scary how easily real life resumes. I don't feel like I am badly adjusted or anything. I feel exhausted. I can't sleep unless the windows are open and I can hear the noise of the outdoors. The artificial light at night confuses my system, so used to shutting down at dusk and awakening at dawn.It's really weird. Just weird. But not bad, necessarily. I rode my bike today and kept looking into the woods as I cycled past. I should go for a hike. It's ridiculous, but I admit that part of me is actually kind of scared to go for a hike. It will be so different now. I have a feeling that I'll set foot on a trail and just burst into tears. I guess I should do it, though. GOTTA START SOMEWHERE.
Date: 2015-09-14
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

GUESS WHO'S BACK IN MAINE?RED PANDA IS. I mean, Danielle Red Panda. I can use ALL the names now. I won't introduce myself as that, though. People will think I'm crazy.As I was driving up yesterday, I stopped for a break and the rest stop had this WONDERFUL little scenic model of a popular destination in Maine.Can you guess what it was of?Guess.Did you guess?KATAHDIN. Of course you could probably tell by reading the blurry picture I took. Maybe it was that AT Phenomenon again, telling me, "Yup, you're doing the right thing." IT WAS FATE THAT I HAD TO PEE REALLY BAD WHEN I DROVE PAST THE SIGN FOR THAT REST STOP.I am glad to be back here. I am starting to feel like my old self again, breaking out of my post-homecoming funk of rest and laziness.This place is GORGEOUS. I mean, the Appalachian Trail is amazing (duh, otherwise I wouldn't have spent nearly five months on it). The trail provides many amazing views, breathtaking moments on mountaintops and beside ponds and along ridges.The ocean is different. The AT travels along shorelines, but not saltwater shorelines. The smell is different, the salt rising into the air. You get that same feeling of just being SO SMALL. On top of a mountain, with the landscape stretching out around you in every direction, fading into the distance, you realize how tiny a human being really is. And when you look at the ocean panning out before you, reaching out to the horizon, seeming infinitely distant, that same perspective hits. I can't say which experience is better. But they are equally awesome.This morning, I ran the "Schoodic 5k" as Alexa calls it. Remember that time I couldn't get to the end of the driveway? I do. It sucked. It knocked me down. It shook my confidence. I wasn't ready to give it another go for DAYS (really like... almost two weeks. I was that lazy).But today, I ran almost the entire 5k without crying OR stopping. I did walk a little. I stopped to stretch a little. But MY BODY IS STARTING TO WORK AGAIN. Once I did pause the running (okay, jogging, let's not get overambitious here), I got rather wobbly and weaved around a bit. My center of balance is still confused, maybe. It was wonderful. Hard, but wonderful. My toes went a little numb in my sneakers (I have been wearing flip-flops for the last two weeks). My ankles hurt as I dodged roots and puddles on the stretch of grassy trail. Once I got back to the paved road, my sneakers pounding the tarmac, the balls of my feet REALLY started to hurt. So I stopped again for a rest and stretch. A new campground has opened on the Schoodic Peninsula, and along with it, there are new hiking trails and bike paths. Hooray! So many things to do, so many new places to explore! I'm going to go play outside some more.
Date: 2015-10-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

PLEASE ENJOY THIS AMAZING PICTURE OF MY PIZZA FAIRY DRESSED AS A GIANT PIECE OF PIZZA.Because I sure am.I really want to eat pizza. I'm going camping tomorrow!OH! And I am thankful for a good smile, and for leftovers, and for friendship! And for the opportunity to go camping (and camping NOT in a campground next to a road)... I hope it works out.
Date: 2015-11-13
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

A quick bit about mail drops.In regular mail drops, I sent: food (3 meals and snacks), vitamins and fish oil pills (for my tin-man joints), TP, and q-tips. Then if I needed anything else, I asked mom to throw it in.OH, and guidebook pages! I spit up the book so that there were pages in every box. Each mail drop had the pages that I would need to get to the next box. There were people on the trail in the first week who held up their books and said in bewildered disbelief, "Why am I carrying this whole thing?"As for some of the dinners I planned and packed for the trail... it's really pathetic that I can't even remember some of this stuff. HOW IS MY MEMORY SO BAD? IT HAS ONLY BEEN A COUPLE OF MONTHS.First, I think that if I had to do it again, I would have tried to get more protein in my dinners. Trail mentor Alexa gave me some excellent black bean pasta that I had for a few nights. I was too cheap to invest in more, but I really should have.Otherwise, dinners usually consisted of some kind of carb (usually pasta or rice), plus a vegetable.Here's a list of some dinners I made:Korean yellow curry powder, with instant rice, dehydrated onions, carrots, and potatoes (occasionally with a pouch of chicken added) Korean red pepper paste with rice and dehydrated stir fry vegetables (like bad bibimbap)Chili - dehydrated salsa, dehydrated kidney beans and black beans, Mexican seasoning (I think I just mixed cumin and chili powder, maybe some onion powder), and some instant rice (I also brought some Cabot cheddar cheese, my favorite, at one point).Pasta with dehydrated vegetables and Parmesan cheese (so easy and delicious!)One of my favorites was Annie's mac and cheese, with a pouch of tuna and Italian seasoning added. Also good with flavored Parmesan cheese.Rice, stir fry vegetables, teriyaki sauce, and beef jerky.Dehydrated pizza sauce, Parmesan cheese, and pepperoni on tortillas (LIKE PIZZA!).Chicken noodle soup (bouillon, spices, dehydrated vegetables and noodles). Beef soup, too. Sometimes accompanied by pouches of chicken or I got some lemon pepper tuna pouches at ALDI, which I mixed with couscous and lemon pepper seasoning.I also got some sweet and spicy tuna pouches, which I mixed with Thai sauce packets and rice or noodles.I had mashed potatoes once or twice, with dehydrated corn, and barbeque sauce.A few times I had Cream of Wheat, with brown sugar and powdered milk, because it was good comfort food I also had a few heavier pouches of prepackaged foods for shorter resupplies. One was some kind of teriyaki noodle bowl (wasn't good), but I got Cuban Mojo beans from Costco, and a quinoa and rice mix (I think with garlic) from Costco which was amazingly delicious.Any kind of mixture of the above things probably happened. Tuna and rice and some random seasoning, couscous and tuna and leftover Mexican seasoning... it worked out pretty well. I had packed a few Pasta Sides but I didn't end up needing them. Some ended up in hiker boxes, and some were given to Chris.
Date: 2015-11-30
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Okay, I started writing a nice Thanksgiving post on Thanksgiving, and then got distracted... by chocolate-covered almonds. Plus, you know... Thanksgiving. I have been SO BUSY (in a good way) since I got home that my to-do list keeps getting longer instead of shorter, and I have half-finished tasks abandoned all around me (like my jacket, which has my 2000 Miler patch half-stitched on).ANYWAY...I try to give thanks every day for what I have had the opportunity to have and experience in life. The AT was so good for me, because in journaling every night, I forced myself to ponder the gifts I received each and every day... gifts of trail magic and beautiful sunrises and pizza money and new friends and familiar faces. SO MANY THINGS. ENDLESS THINGS. I COULD GO ON FOR SO LONG.You totally want to know all the things I am thankful for, right? You want to wade your poor eyes through that tedious list, don't you?I won't torture you, I promise.But today is Thanksgiving, the one day a year that Americans celebrate all the things they have to be thankful for by stuffing themselves full of potatoes and pie.This year, I have more than EVER to be thankful for. Seriously. I had the amazing opportunity to experience the BEST FREAKING ADVENTURE EVER this year. When I look back at it, it's so hard to believe that it happened. I hiked 2,189.2 miles this year. The entire Appalachian Trail. I met amazing people, crazy people, inspiring people, people I didn't want to touch with a 10-foot pole, people I am very glad that I haven't had the bad luck to meet again.It was the best learning experience, and growing experience of my life. I received so much from so many people. I don't think that I have ever felt so loved and supported in my life. Total strangers gave me advice, and cheered me on. People I barely know still come up to me and ask me about my journey.So there, I am thankful. I am thankful for you. I am thankful for everyone who influenced my journey in any way (even the bad ones, for there were lessons from those). I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for pizza and M&Ms.My internship has finished, and I am back home with my wonderful mom and the Pizza Fairy, who let me eat all of their leftover turkey. They put up with me when I whine about running in the cold, when I find an old love letter and have a breakdown, and decide to move my huge bed frame into the other room (thanks, mom!).It's time for a new start. Returning home makes me feel like I'm back in high school. Thus, I have taken DRASTIC MEASURES. By that, I mean I moved some furniture. IT'S LIKE A WHOLE NEW PLACE IN HERE. A ROOM FIT FOR RED PANDA.And now, it's time to plan for the next adventure. When people ask me, "What do you want to do?" I am totally honest.I have no idea.But I have more faith in life since I did that hike. Somehow, everything DOES work out in the end. It will come to me.P.S. I think that someday I would like to commit to another thru-hike. Not yet, though. I need a break from moving around. And I need to save up some money. I bought a few too many pizzas on the trail (JUST KIDDING. NEVER TOO MUCH PIZZA).
Date: 2016-01-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I haven't been feeling at all like Red Panda lately. I haven't been feeling much like Danielle, either, though.Instead, I've become a giant human brat child, grumpy and irritable, depressed and frustrated.I DON'T KNOW WHY. Okay, I know a little. But it's kind of ridiculously out of control.Being underemployed sucks, but it's not like I'm out starving on the street.I am tremendously lucky. I have a loving family who houses me, supports me, and puts up with me. I am SO FREAKING LUCKY, I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail last year with endless support, even from total strangers (you guys rock, by the way).My life is dang great. I'm not in China sucking down poison air. My body is healthy, my stomach is full. But I just seem to be stuck lately.Winter has something to do with it. I miss running outside. I miss being outside. And it has been gloomy lately. I NEED THE SUN IN MY LIFE.Jim always has something to do with it. Being home, with Jim and Candace overseas, is still weird. They were my best friends, and something can't quite fill the void that they have left behind.I KNOW, PATHETIC, RIGHT?!PATHETIC PANDA HAS BEEN IN A FUNK.IT'S WORSE THAN THE FREAKING WHITES.But this morning, after two days of healthy eating, and several successfully submitted job applications, I woke up to sunlight, and started feeling a little better. I can't even tell you how much chocolate I have consumed since Christmas. It's been BAD. I gained a couple of pounds. OKAY, A FEW POUNDS. All of my outdoor enjoyment time has been transformed into internet "career time". Anyway, it's been a bit of a bummer, but I am trying to turn things around. SO MANY THINGS MAY BE HAPPENING SOON.I am considering applying to become a Maine State Trooper. I figure that it will be an ADVENTURE (you know how I like those). I have gotten mixed responses to this idea... but it will, if nothing else, give me something to focus on while I wait to hear back about other positions I have applied for.In order to apply, I first need to pass an aptitude test and a physical test. I need to train. I cannot do 18 push ups in a minute. I USED TO BE SO STRONG BUT NOW I AM ALL WIMPY. I have been running regularly (oh treadmill, how I loathe you), but my thru-hiker beast body is a thing of the past.The test is, of course, in Maine, so if I take if I can get in a good road trip and visit Trail Mentor Alexa. Sounds like an excellent plan to me.So I at least have that to focus on. The possibility of some interesting education, and a career path that could allow me to be a law enforcement ranger, or game warden.I still have no idea what I want to do. Besides, ideally, rehike the AT every year forever.Being directionless wears me down. Jerkwad Red Panda has replaced Awesome Panda, as life frustrates and confuses me (SORRY, MOM).But like I said, I was starting to feel better. And then, today...