morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-05-13
From: Erwin

To: Kincora
Miles today: 71.7
Weather: few clouds

Whenever I hit the trail after a long absence, I¢m always wicked tired and I ask myself why I¢m doing this. The tiredness lingers though the questioning quickly disappears. As I walked that first day, I realized how fat and lazy the van has made me. I walked slowly, sweated profusely, dodged the rain and wore my muscles down. I finally rolled into Deep Gap, where there were nearly twenty people and a dozen tents in a tiny little area. Many of these people I would come to know quite well over the next two weeks.   The second day out was when I got the news. Too Soon, one of the people I camped with the night before, took one look at my toe and said, ¢Oh yeah, no question, that¢s coming off.¢ She¢s a nurse, so I believe her. With that pronouncement, my toenail needs a proper eulogy, so I¢d appreciate it if someone stepped up to give it.   Any normal person might do something to save it. Well, I did a 2500 foot straight up climb instead. It was the toughest one I can remember since getting out on February 26 (Apart from stairs), but that might just be because of the seven pounds I put on in the month of driving. Regardless, I got up it, and made it to Overmountain Shelter, a converted barn right on the route Revolutionaries took in riding to the Battle of King¢s Mountain against those ***** loyalists. One of the nicest shelters I¢ve stayed in, with the best view. And to top it off, it was the only one on this stretch to have restroom facilities.   The next day was long and tiring. Early on, we climbed two gorgeous balds, and then a long decent to the road. Went into town for some lunch, and headed back out. I wound up getting lost, felt terrible from the lunch, and didn¢t roll into the shelter until 7:40 that night. I contemplated going on, but as soon as my boots came off, my feet screamed in such relief that I just made dinner and went to bed.   The next day was a trip to Kincora, which I shall describe in a later post.   P.S. The picture is me on my first day of final exams ?
Date: 2010-05-14
From: Kincora

To: Kincora
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I got to Kincora around three in the afternoon after a hard fifteen mile day. The elevation map said flat, but what it meant by that was a few dozen hundred foot climbs and descents, some decently steep. But I got there. Let me tell you a little bit about Kincora, the friendliest little hostel on the whole trail. It¢s owned by a gentleman by the name of Bob Peoples. If most people who help hikers are trail angels, then Bob Peoples is the equivalent of trail god. He will help you with anything you need, and provides you a bunk, laundry, shower, full stocked kitchen, and common room all for a mere REQUESTED four dollars a night. He doesn¢t even keep track of who pays and who doesn¢t, or how much is given. He¢ll give everyone rides into town for re-supply and dinner, as well as regale us with the many adventures of his life.Needless to say, I was in no hurry to leave. I met friends of all sorts, from the father and son (eleven years old) who are thru-hiking, the former thrus out doing section, the 21 year old couple from Massachusetts Art College of some kind, the folks over from Germany and Australia, etc. So many people, all with a heart of gold. I have yet to meet the thru-hiker/long distance section hiker who has been mean, and the lovely patrons of Kincora were no exception.I stayed for a full forty eight hours, not leaving until late afternoon two days later. Walking out was a bit sad, though I knew I needed to get moving. Bob Peoples has a three night limit because he recognizes that people lose their motivation after that. I was close to losing it after only two nights. I got out of there, hit the trail, walked into the night, and knew that I will be back there sooner rather than later. This section has continued to reaffirm my determination to get back out here in some not too distant year to give it another go, being smarter and better prepared for the weak attempt I made this year.I¢ll fill you in on the last few days and trail days in my next post. My hiking buddy Vish just got into town, and I¢m going to meet him!
Date: 2010-06-10
To: View Entry
Miles today: 110.0

I am a terrible blogger. Sometimes, I just forget to post for nearly a month. If I was near you, this would be the moment when you could slap me in the hopes of deterring my failure in the future. But all that aside, I need to fill you in on everything that's happened since I left Kincora on May 9. I'll give you the abridged version so you're not here all day. Also, for those who were confused, the last two posts covered stuff prior to the dates listed. Here goes, from 5/9/10 - 6/10/10.   I left Kincora late in the afternoon and did my first solo night hiking, reminding me that I'm afriad of the dark. Never doing that again. From when I left Kincora until I walked into Damascus was about 50 hours, in which I did 51 miles, including my first ever marathon. My marathon took nine hours forty five minutes with my main pack on back and my camera pack on front. Ran through that with Sly (a Canadian postman), Rainer and Dewlap (a college couple taking a year off from Massachusetts Art School).   Trail Days was not nearly as exciting as I had hoped. I saw some good documentaries, ate some good free food, saw some people I hadn't seen in a long time, including Vish, and took third in a cake eating contest. I also got about 5 dozen stickers, a free hat with an awesome I <3 Mountains button, some other free stuff, some free gear repair, etc. But that doesn't really cover the four or five days I was there. Oh well, got about an hour's worth of footage.   Went home for my big sister's graduation, then headed back out a while later. Did the Maryland section with my friend Kaitlin and discovered that the rocks are not just confined to Pennsylvania. They're very much alive in northern Maryland as well, and by alive I simply mean present. Immediately after that I started off doing the first 55 or so miles of PA with my friend Sarah, who sprained her ankle less than half a mile into the state. We promptly did a twenty mile day due to her stubborn sheer determination and refusal to get off, and then we got off.   After that I spent a few days bouncing between places, getting woken up by the park rangers once, and getting threatened with fines for sleeping in the woods (personally, I think people should be allowed to sleep wherever the hell they want in a public park. IT'S PUBLIC LAND!!!) I wound up in Bear Mountain State Park where I did a day hike with some other friends of mine, Kara, Jenna, Dana, Sharon and Lynn.   Back to home for my little sister's graduation, then up to Pine Grove Furnace State Park for the grand opening of the AT Museum, which was pretty boring. The museum itself was pretty cool, though much smaller than I had been anticipating. Went right back home after that and have been home for a few days since. I'm getting ready to head up to Maine next week, where I will spend about a month going straight up mountains. I'm stoked.
Date: 2010-06-24
From: Andover, ME

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I'm somewhere in Maine. Andover specifically, but I don't really know where that is. Knee is flaring up again, so I don't know what I'll do.   Started hiking on Sunday from Gorham, NH and walked really slow. People told me about how steep NH and ME are, but they never conveyed it properly. Quite literally, 30 degree angles no longer seem bad. Some places it's in excess of 45. They put ladders in some of the really bad places, but most super steep spots, which sometimes continue for in excess of a mile, you just have to find lucky toe holds and bounce up the cliff. When it's not that steep, it's still at least as wicked as the tough stuff we did down south.   Mahousic (Spelling?) Notch was a ton of fun. Bouncing between the boulders with a forty pound pack. Did at least a half dozen things that could have gotten me seriously hurt or worse. It was stupid, but the adrenaline was pumping and I had fun. It probably contributed mightily to my knee though. Life continues. Going to Portland to visit family from near the other Portland (Maine and Oregon respectively), then I don't know. Adventures to be had. Got to keep my focus on filming and getting the knee healthy (again).
Date: 2010-08-13
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Dear Faithful Readers,   The current portion of my journey is over. I have hiked large/small (depending on your perspective and background) parts of the Appalachian Trail and captured a great deal of footage. On Monday, I move back to school where I will have access to my editing equipment and will immediately start logging my shots. It has been an incredible journey, and I dare say that it's far from over. But, this journal is over. I became terribly bad at updating it once I had to leave the trail because of my knee, and since I am no longer hiking, I feel it is not appropriate to have a blog on "TrailJournals". For those of you who wish to continue to follow my progress, feel free to contact me via email at druthmar@gmail.com. My piece should be finished by the end of this coming academic year, and which point it will be made public via whatever means fit the quality of the work.   To all of my incredible friends that I have met along the way, thank you. Knowing all of you has made this journey unforgettable. I'd like to especially thank my hiking partner, Vish, for supporting me all the way. Maybe someday I'll get out there and finish the whole thing. I don't know. What I do know is that this journey has taught me to slow down and enjoy the little things in life. In the days and years to come, I hope to be less focused on the end goal, and more focused on the journey. Wherever it takes me, I'll at least enjoy the ride.Peace, Love and Happy Trails,Nickel
Date: 2009-11-29
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

This is my 2nd preparation entry and will present in intimate detail the high intensity of preparations I've been undergoing.NONEMostly I've been reminiscing and reading the early days of my '05 journal and asking myself just why in the hell I would want to do this again? I'm not nearly as manic as in '05 and don't know if this speaks to commitment (whatever 'that' means) or I know where that northbound road goes and don't have to get all pumped up. Sort of an old bull/young bull thing, with me already knowing it's going to be more fun and more work than a reasonable person would consider. I haven't been right since my '05 adventure (and probably not before) and this return to the scene of the crime won't be a cure. The thing about long distance hiking is that you just want more and more of the trail, the towns, the people; the misery and the ecstasy. I live a pretty cool lifestyle as I currently exist, floating the local rivers, renovating my old farm house, growing a small garden and drinking a little beer on weekends with my daughter, Melanie and her boyfriend, Les, but it's just not trail life.My transcriber is Carlette Lewis, known by many in the hiking and hell raising communities as 'Gather No Moss'. GNM hails from North Carolina, so you may have to pay particular attention to periodically cleaning the grits filters on your pc, least they become clogged with Carolinian nonsense and my prose rendered unintelligible. Thereby improving it...perhaps.Well, that's enough for today
Date: 2009-11-30
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I'm headed to California in the morning, with the intention of returning my son's dog, Layla, and some of his other property. This entry is to activate the journal and get my transcriber off my back. Wouldn't you think that a half way responsible transcriber would take care of these small administrative details on her own? Good help is soooo hard to find
Date: 2009-12-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

This entry is coming from Oceanside, Ca. I arrived in San Diego yesterday, reuniting my son, Joe, with his dog, Layla. They met after dark at the Dusty Rhodes Doggie Park in Mission Beach, having been apart for 8 months. As much as I love each of them, it was wonderful to watch them reacquaint with each other, immediately pushing me into second place in each of their lives. No problem at all with that sudden shift in status; perhaps I'm growing just a smidgen. As I get older I am becoming more and more enchanted with dogs (and cat's, if Nutmeg is reading this) and less with people...except for dog people (and cat people if my mother is reading this).I received a nice complimentary guest book note from Dean Poole in South Carolina recently and feel undeservedly flattered. Having been retired for some 17 years, there is little structure in my life and my grammar and punctuation have gone completely to hell, or so it seems. I put comma's where they don't belong, frequently use them where semi-colons should be used and have deteriorated to the point of lacking any confidence in my spelling. Maybe that means I am finally at the point of being teachable. Once my hike begins, my scrawled garbage will be magically transformed by a genuine college educated person into something close to English. I can hardly wait for the day when Carlette Lewis has to read through a bunch of hastily handwritten trivia, scratchily written on blood and sweat stained paper and try to make sense out of it. This journal to come will be much more the product of her efforts than mine. All I have to do is walk and enjoy the life Riley only wished he hadTime for breakfast with my son. Peace
Date: 2009-12-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I'm all sore and beaten up this morning because of once again challenging the God of Inevitable Aging by playing in a softball game yesterday. I have a goose egg and abrasion on my left arm from falling while running to first base, a stiff right arm from throwing the ball, slight muscle pulls in each leg and a bloodied right ear from fouling a pitch off my head while at bat. On the positive side, I quickly regained some of my (alledged) athletic ability and ended the day with 4 hits, 5 rbi's, 3 put outs in right field (the last a nifty basket catch) and 2 errors (but who's counting?). One of my hits was a gen-you-wine double and when I eventually scored, my team mates greeted me at home plate with fist bumps. I laughed hard when realizing that the last time I played softball, fist bumps had not yet been invented. Two things are important about this game and must be recorded into this historic document: (1) I ended the day with more base hits than my son and (2) we won the game On a little bit of a serious note (damn little, frankly), it's really cool to reach back into yesterday and participate in any kind of athletic competition. That window of opportunity is narrower than ever and rapidly closing. I played like an old man because that is what I am, however, I still got 4 base hits and 3 put outs Oddly, there doesn't seem to be any discernable deterioration in my trash talking skills. Go figure. Later on Joe and I split 3 22 oz bottles of some kind of super-duper hi-tech beer that cost 7 bucks a bottle and ate some Thai food. I fell asleep around 8:00 p.m., thus ending another highly intensive training day for my 2010 Appalachian Trail thru hike.I'm really starting to like my life again
Date: 2009-12-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Today is Joe, my sons' 34th birthday. He's celebrating in sunny Southern California and I'm thinking of him in chilly Northern Wisconsin. Happy Birthday, Joe. There's lots of small, yet important matters to take care of before starting this hike. I need to get all my bills on some sort of auto-pay, continue sealing up air leaks in my musty old farm house, make sure there's plenty of propane in the tank for when I'm gone; gotta haul in a bunch of firewood from the barn and get my cat, Nutmeg, up to date on her shots. I noticed from the presence of mouse turds on the counter that Nutmeg hasn't been taking care of her part of the rodent eradication agreement. She was to keep the mice in check and I would agree to supplement her diet with quality cat food, provide her with visits to the Vet as needed and provide her shelter when she wishes to be in the house. Lately she's been slacking off and the only way to bring matters back to a point of order is to withhold her food. In the meantime, just to be on the safe side, I better bait some traps. She almost always can hold out longer than I can, me suffering from feline co-dependency. So, you thought you might get some sort of information on me getting ready for my hike; insights as to my hardcore training program, and all you get is mouse turds. Some days life is just like that
Date: 2010-01-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Happy New Year to all you people who have nothing better to do than read the journals of those who have nothing better to do than write in their journals when they should be out walking in the woods Useless lot, aren't we?It's about 5 above and I don't know the wind chill, but it's a bright sunny day with blue jays, gray and black squirrels and a pair of pileated woodpeckers flitting about the snow outside my large west window that overlooks the creek. There's a few pieces of red oak burning in my old wood stove, keeping the inside of this drafty old farmhouse relatively warm. I should be out walking on a day like this, getting ready for my hike, but I'm not. Instead I've chosen to remain inside and take down the Christmas Tree, sweep the floor, do some dishes and start on some much needed house cleaning. I was a much better housekeeper during my years as a single parent, but anymore don't seem to give a damn. I really need some structure, but continually resist any of my own attempts to create some. Perhaps that's why I need to be on a long hike. If one doesn't want to clean their house, it may be better to just move it every day.I guess most of you have figured out that I'm also not doing many household chores by virtue of the fact that I can't type and clean simultaneously. That's okay, my cat doesn't seem to care and I've become very tolerant. Sometime I wish my house were on a dump truck type platform and occasionally I could just tilt it up and let all the crap slide out. The problem, of course, is that all the good stuff rolls out the door as well. I may have to think on this awhile.The other day I put on my pack and set out to walk 7 miles through the woods. It was so damn cold that I barely did a mile before returning to the house. This convinced me that I should renew my fitness club membership and return there to work out; a few treadmill miles, stairmaster, stretching, core exercises and stumbling up and down the stairs of the hockey arena with my pack on. Not all that every day, but divided (in theory) to get the best workout while not injuring my aging, decrepit body. I can do that, but it means I'll have to be around people, locals at that.The cool thing about planning another thruhike is that it triggers so many memories of the first, back in '05. Spraining my ankle on the second morning while descending Sassafras Mountain, Hot Springs and getting blown off Max Patch during the white out, suffering through Connecticut with Giardia and hiking through many consecutive cold and rainy October days in Maine. Heck, who wouldn't want to jump back out there and do that all over again. Most fun I've had in my life.
Date: 2010-01-06
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

There are some younger folks (aren't they all?) that I enjoyed hiking with in '05 who plan on hiking a section out of Hot Springs starting the same day I hoped to begin my thru hike on Springer Mountain. I have decided to start my hike with them, proceed north and AFTER climbing Katahdin, make my way south (not by hiking) to Hot Springs, wandering south to completion on Springer Mountain. As I recall, the climb out of Hot Springs is fairly rugged, particularly for an older person who has not yet gained his hiking legs. It is what it is and I'll deal with it. In the meantime I've become more serious about my alleged training program and have begun climbing the stairs at the hockey arena while wearing my pack and a few other things pertaining to cardio and core strength. Nothing really prepares you for the AT like hiking the AT, but this should be much more helpful than the old 12 oz curls, which will be saved for my hike...but only in moderation. I learned this the hard way back in '05 when a young lady named Red Rover ended up shaving my head (this is not completely true and I add this only in an attempt to get her in trouble with her boy friend and parents)
Date: 2010-01-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

My attitude seems to be picking up the closer I get to kick off. The people in the small town closest to me are aware of my new hike and are filled with questions and enthusiasm. People stop me as I climb the stairs with my pack in the hockey arena, wondering what the hell I'm up to and I'm always happy to take a little time and share my plans for more adventure. Other folks seem a lot more impressed by this stuff than I am. I remain dumbfounded that more people aren't out there. Don't they like endorphins? Was it this way when sex was first invented...only a few did it, the rest thought it seemed like a good idea for someone else, but was too risky and too much work for them? I don't know, but life sure is about choices and I've made a bunch of dumb ones.   The choice to hike, however,is one of my very best Next week I should easily get to an hour up and down the stairs. Once I get comfortable with an hour, I'll begin working the training regimen that my son developed for me back in '08. I know it's laying around here somewhere. If not, I can probably recreate enough to get by. Supplements are something I've added this time around and the result of improved health just might be a major part in my upbeat attitude, disgusting as that sounds. Glucosamine, fish oil capsules, a good multivitamin, protein powder and a much more nutritious diet, combined with a complete elimination of beer and a recreational substance most often associated with the 60's seems to be what has pepped me up. I'll ride that horse as long as I can.