morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-09-27
From: East Branch Lean-to, Mile 2117.5

To: Wadleigh Stream Lean-to, Mile 2147.1
Miles today: 29.6
Weather: clear sky

We were all up early as we wanted to put in some big miles today on what looked like mostly level terrain with just a couple of relatively small hills. I was hiking by 6:45 and leapfrogged with the guys and Sparkle Feet and Gary the first half of the day. The guys had to pick up a food drop at Jo Mary Rd, so I figured I'd catch up with them there. Sparkle Feet and Gary enjoying the View!When I got to Jo Mary Rd, sure enough, the three guys were there. But, Turtle Trax, a previous thru hiker, was also there doing trail magic! He was cooking hot dogs on a small grill and had snacks and sodas. I availed myself of two of each! They said that Catfish had left just before I got there, so I was hoping to catch up with him today.The guys lingered there and were still enjoying the lunch break when I hiked on. The weren't planning to go as far as I hoped to get, and I didn't see them the rest of the day. Before long I caught up with Catfish and discovered it was indeed his knit hat that I had found. Also, back when we had shared the shuttle ride from Shaws, Dawn forgot to refund them the 10 bucks that was my share of the fee and which she had charged me. She only had 7 bucks cash when she dropped me off, so she asked me to give it to Old Blue and Catfish. Catfish happily took his hat back and two dollars, saying he owed me two and a half bucks for sharing a laundry load with me.The trail was indeed fairly level and OK for making good time in most places. In the late afternoon, I caught up with Old Blue who was preparing to camp by Lake Nahmakanta. Although the AT Guide says no camping by the lake, there are no signs and some obvious tent sites around. I gave Old Blue the five bucks from Dawn, and although tempted to camp by the lake, too, I hiked on. Pretty Trail!I wasn't sure if the East Branch Lean-to would have any good water source, so before the trail left the lake shore and headed up the hill, I walked down to the shore to get water. There on the beach getting set up to cowgirl camp were Hobo Nobo and Caddy Shack! It looked like a beautiful setting and I was really tempted to camp there, too. However, when one of them mentioned the bugs were starting to gather, I decided to stick with my plans and headed up to the shelter and a little closer to Katahdin.I got there at 6:30 and it was getting dark, so I first set up my tent behind the shelter. Then I went down to briefly meet the three Germans who were settling in there. There was a couple I couldn't recognize in the dark who were tenting a little ways from the front of the shelter, too. After saying Gute Nacht, I returned to my tent area for a quick dinner and then into the tent to sleep.It felt really good to put in a long mileage day again! :-)
Date: 2014-10-01
To: Well... That's 14 Down!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

1. GA    5. WV      9. NY    13. NH    2. NC   6. MD10. CT14. ME3. TN   7. PA11. MA4. VA8. NJ12. VTLinda and I have a tradition that when we're driving across numerous states, when we cross a border, we say "Well... that's one (two, three...) down!" The "Well..." is to get everyone's attention, and we try to say the number just as we cross the border.During my hike, whenever I crossed a state border for the last time, I took a video of me doing the "Well... that's one (two, three...) down!" thing. If other folks were present, I asked them to join in with me. The embedded video above is a compilation of those border crossings, culminating in my finishing at the Katahdin sign with Linda and our daughters.In several places, the AT goes along state borders, crossing back and forth between two states - NC/TN, VA/WV, NJ/NY and NY/CT. In each case, I tried to video the last crossing, when I left one of the states for good.Leaving NC, there is a point mentioned in the AT Guide where there's a sign "Leaving NC". However, looking at my AT Hiker app and my GPS when hiking, I think there's a later unmarked spot where the AT pokes briefly back into NC on a switchback. So I videoed both crossings and include them side-by-side!Leaving CT, the AT Guide, the AT Hiker App, and my GPS show the same unmarked spot for the actual border crossing into MA. However, there's a spot further down the trail when it crosses a stream and there are signs indicating that spot is the border. So I videoed both places here, too!Other unmarked crossings are the last VA/WV crossing, WV/MD (the WV shoreline of the Potomac River - I had some Harper's Ferry tourists help me here!), and VT/NH (the VT shoreline of the Connecticut River).PS  I thought it appropriate that the Welcome to Vermont sign is at a muddy section of the trail. :-)
Date: 2014-10-02
To: Statistics
Miles today: 0.0

My math geekness shining through again! Here¢s a chart showing how many trail miles I hiked each day, along with the average daily trail miles hiked for the week: Daily Mileage and 7-Day AveragesHiking Days: 119Average Trail Miles per Hiking Day: 18.4Zero Days on Trail: 2 (Fontana Dam, NC and Gorham, NH)Average Trail Miles per Day on Trail: 18.1Zero Days off Trail: 46 (one sick day, the rest for family events)Total Days on and off Trail: 167Average Trail Miles per Total Days: 13.1Most Trail Miles in a Single Day: 32.2Fewest Trail Miles in a Single Day: 2.1Number of Days I hiked a marathon or more of trail miles: 14(Click on the ¢Stats¢ tab in the left column for more!)
Date: 2014-10-07
To: Finally Home!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I'm finally home today after Linda and I spent time with family up north. Here's a picture of me at breakfast the morning after summiting Katahdin. The AT Caf© in Millinocket has thru hikers sign ceiling tiles and then puts them in the ceiling overhead when they're full! Signing Ceiling Tile at the AT Caf©!Today I'm catching up on email and my journal, and preparing for my talk at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy event in Washington on Thursday evening. The folks there apparently heard about me somehow, and contacted me a month or so ago to ask me to speak. Good thing I finished!http://www.appalachiantrail.org/promo/2014-membership-drive---relive-the-legacy/tour-scheduleNote: If you click on the "Speakers" tab, you can see what I looked like 25 years ago!
Date: 2014-10-10
To: ATC Event
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: heavy intensity rain

Linda and I had a good time at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy event last night in DC. I enjoyed talking with all the folks there, and Sam's movie on the AT and it's history was quite entertaining as well as informative.During my talk, I surprised Linda by introducing her to the audience by singing "And I would walk one thousand miles and I would walk one thousand more, just to be the man who walked two thousand miles to fall down at your door, Lil-Li-Linda, Lil-Li-Linda." She's put up with a lot being married to me for nearly 45 years! :-)Now I'll get to work on getting my gear review, advice to thru hikers, and final thoughts written!
Date: 2014-10-14
To: Advice for Thru Hikers
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Practice, Practice, Practice! Get in shape by hiking. Up and down hills if possible. With your backpack on, working up to your full load with food and water.Test run all your gear individually. Practice with it enough that you¢re familiar with it, or even an expert at using it. In a variety of conditions.Test run all your gear together, both hiking and camping. Take it out overnight, even if it¢s only in the back yard. Test it in the cold. Test it in the rain, and perhaps even in snow. Test it at night. Are there some things missing? Are there some things you can do without? Practice on multi-night trips if possible. It¢s valuable to break camp and pack up knowing you¢re going to have to set up camp again later rather than knowing you¢re just going home. If necessary, you might even camp in the back yard and take your backpack to work during the day, returning to the back yard. But it¢s better to practice as much as possible under the actual conditions you¢ll encounter on the trail.Get your pack weight down!!!!Have fun! Both during practice and on the trail! Get to know other hikers! Accept them for who they are - after all, they¢re accepting you for who you are! Appreciate they¢re hiking their own hike while you¢re hiking your own hike.Listen to your body. Don¢t try to do too much too soon. Drink lots of water and eat enough food! You¢ll need more of both than you¢re used to drinking and eating. Keep your electrolytes up.Maintain a sense of joy and wonder!
Date: 2014-10-15
To: Final Thoughts
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!! Thanks to all of you for your prayers and your support during my adventure - family, friends, and even folks I haven¢t met! Thanks to the trail builders and maintainers! Thanks to my fellow hikers, and to the hostel, food and other store owners and workers, and to the ride givers, and to the many other trail angels seen and unseen! I¢ve often said that the best part about my thru hike has been meeting so many wonderful people along the way. Special thanks go of course to my wife Linda for not only her prayers and support for this adventure, but for her love and for putting up with me for the past 45 years!Thank you Lord for your provision, protection, inspiration and fellowship!I am indeed a blessed man. :-)
Date: 2014-12-04
To: What Next?
Miles today: 0.0

What next?A lot of hikers I met on the trail were at a transition point in their lives. Many of the younger hikers were leaving their previous jobs and using the opportunity to hike the AT before starting a new job. Many of those weren¢t quite sure what that new job was going to be, and they hoped the trail would help clarify what they wanted to do next.I¢m also at a transition point! When folks would ask me if I was retired, I responded that I didn¢t particularly like that descriptor, even if it¢s accurate. I prefer to say that currently no one is paying me to do anything! And, I don¢t intend to retire from life and be unproductive. :-)A number of years ago, I developed the following definition of success:First of all success is not fame or fortune or power. Success is taking the gifts and talents you¢ve been given, growing and maturing them, and applying them to make the world a better place, to help other people. For some folks, that may lead to fame, fortune and/or power. If so, that means they have greater opportunity, and hence greater responsibility, to help make the world a better place.I¢ve been fortunate in life to serve in a variety of positions with lots of successful people across all income levels - people helping make the world a better place and helping others.I didn¢t expect to discover what¢s next for me during my hike. I simply expected to enjoy hiking the trail - which I did, especially the people I met along the way! But now that it¢s over, I need to discover what¢s next to keep me productively occupied. More time with family and friends, for sure, but also time spent in service to others where I can both contribute and be challenged.Don¢t know what it¢ll be yet, but based on my past experiences, the good Lord has something in store to surprise me with! In the meantime, however long that is, I¢m catching up on a long to-do list at home and am indeed spending more time with my family and friends! I¢ve also decided to continue practicing writing, so I think I¢ll keep this blog going a bit longer to discuss some of the cool thoughts I pondered on the trail. Well¢¦ I think they¢re cool! :-)
Date: 2014-12-19
To: Merry Christmas!
Miles today: 0.0

Merry Christmas!This is the family picture we sent with our Christmas cards this year. We took it when we were all together in California this summer. OK, OK, a little Photoshop was involved to put the couch on the beach! I also admit I¢m a little biased with the title. :-) Our Awesome Family!I thought you might also appreciate the new license plates I put on my truck this week! Georgia to Maine 2014!All the multidimensional thoughts in my previous two posts bring up another interesting question to ponder as we approach Christmas: Where might a spiritual world fit into all this?Most of us sense there is something beyond the three dimensional physical space that we perceive. From where does self-awareness come? What are thoughts? What are emotions? How can we perceive the fact we have them? ¢¦I believe in a creator God who¢s involved in His universe. I believe He¢s way beyond our imagination in wisdom, power and love. Sometimes I have fun imagining that He¢s a 6th grade student in a 20 dimensional universe and our universe is his science fair project.I think He has fun with me imagining that.I also think He loves the creatures in his creation much, much more than they can ever imagine or understand.That¢s why we celebrate Christmas!May you be truly blessed this Christmas and in the years to come!May you experience pure joy! :-)
Date: 2015-01-17
To: 4D Update!
Miles today: 0.0

OK, OK, so I¢ve spent enough time on 4D thinking already!Our kids and grandkids gave me the animated movie ¢Flatland2: Sphereland¢ as a gift for my birthday and I just watched it this week. The film makers have done a very good job illustrating some of the concepts I¢ve mentioned in an entertaining adventure. While trying to save an ill-fated 2D rocket flight, the characters first discover that Lineland is curved into being a circle and then discover that Flatland is curved into being the surface of a sphere.They add a twist I hadn¢t thought about where characters are taken out of their own 1, 2 or 3 dimensional world to a higher dimension world and then put back into their world ¢upside down¢ - where they discover left and right are now reversed for them. They also introduce us to someone from 4D land, which is hard to do on a 2D display in our 3D world! Of course, in 3D Land we only see his 3D cross section. The movie is entertaining and educational - well done!I forgot to mention in my previous posts that you can look at Time as a dimension, too. Imagine that time is the third dimension perpendicular to the 2D world of Flatland instead of the ¢up" physical dimension in our 3D world. As time goes on, the plane of Flatland simply moves ¢up¢ along the time dimension. As time marches on, a stationary circle in Flatland would trace out the shape of a cylinder if you thought of time as a physical dimension. A smaller circle orbiting around the stationary circle would trace out a coil around the cylinder.Now imagine a Flatlander who started life as a couple of side by side irregular blobs (similar to the cross section of the bottoms of your feet). Imagine that as the Flatlander ¢grows¢ the two blobs get smaller and more circular and then varying in size over time (like the cross sections of your legs). As time goes on, the blobs sprout two smaller blobs on each side, then the middle blobs join together, then all three join into one bigger blob. As the Flatlander becomes old, the big blog shrinks to a smaller circle then in a final burst of energy becomes a larger oval for a while, and then quickly shrinks to nothing as it dies.If you look at time as a physical dimension, over its lifetime this Flatlander traces out the 3D you - like when I had you jump through Flatland in the earlier post! For fun, now try to imagine what 4D shape your 3D body is tracing out over time!... Oh¢¦ I forgot¢¦ we can¢t imagine what 4D objects look like. ;-)Have fun!
Date: 2015-10-17
To: Amazon Book
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Been busy, but I finally submitted my journal to Create Space. Their automatic review says the quality of my photos is too low. I ordered a proof copy which should be here next week. If the photos look bad, it'll take a while to fix. If they're OK, it'll be on Amazon as soon as I give the OK. It's over 170 color pages, 7x9 inches, which makes it more expensive than I'd like for other folks who may want a copy. Over $20, but cheaper than having it printed anywhere else! As the author, I think I can get copies sent to me for less than that. I'll post my lessons learned when I'm done - there have been several!
Date: 2015-11-05
To: Book Update Update
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I didn't get the revised text to Create Space until last Wednesday, and I got the proof copy early this week. I'm now reading through it all word for word as a final edit. Although I could sit down and enjoy reading the whole book in one sitting, I can't stay focused as a proof reader unless I take breaks. So, I'm doing that in spurts in between other activities. I like this version much better, but it's amazing how many errors I'm still finding! Most are just where I reference a picture whose relative position to the words has changed, but also a few spelling, grammar, and picture placement errors. I even left one picture completely out! It's early in my journal and if I put it back in there, the ripple effect would mean I'd have to redo the placement of all the pictures for the next 100 pages. Since most of the pictures overlap columns, it gets really tricky when there's three or more pictures per page - and that happens often. So I decided to just put the missing picture at the end of the Guest Book section and reference it with a footnote on the day it was taken. I have to remind myself of why I'm doing this in the first place and combat my perfectionist tendencies!It's a lot of fun reminiscing, though! :-)Hope to get this edit to Create Space by tomorrow, briefly review the final version on line this weekend, and give them a go to publish it early next week.We'll see!PS When I posted the above picture, I caught another error! The text for Today's Miles and Trip Miles is not supposed to be indented, but lined up with the previous two lines. Not a biggie, but inconsistent with the rest of the book. In the previous edition, all four lines were in the right column, but a picture in the left column overlapping the right column caused the Destination and Starting Location lines to be indented. Today's Miles and Trip Miles were below the picture and not indented, so I purposely indented them to make them line up. I'll now "unindent" them!
Date: 2015-11-09
To: It's Published!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It¢s published!I went through two iterations over the weekend, still finding errors¢¦ some I made while correcting previous errors!It¢s already available for purchase on CreateSpace and is supposed to show up on Amazon in 3-4 days.The way CreateSpace works, the list price has to be the same on both sites. Due to the cost of a full color book, I had to set the price higher than I would have liked - $24.50.However, the royalties are much greater on CreateSpace, which means I can reduce the price by giving a discount. So, I¢ve set up a $4.00 discount code, so folks can get it for $20.50 on CreateSpace. Still higher than I¢d have preferred, but at least less than on Amazon. (Unfortunately for Amazon Prime folks, the shipping on CreateSpace eats up most of that discount and may take longer than 2 days.)Go here to order a book on CreateSpace: createspace.com/5746568Use discount code: 569CT8ZT Since I¢m having so much fun learning about publishing my own book, I¢m now going to finish figuring out how to make it available as an e-book. (Kindle, iBook¢¦.) I¢ve done some research already, and it looks pretty easy although I¢ll have to reformat it into single column format. That will take some effort since the pictures currently overlap columns.It¢ll be a LOT cheaper!Hope to have that all figured out by the end of the week. I¢ll post another update when I do.
Date: 2015-11-17
To: Arrgh!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I finished creating my Kindle file using Jutoh 2 and uploaded it to Amazon KDP Saturday evening. I woke up in the middle of the night, and saw it was already listed for sale. As the author, I could check it, so I did. Much to my chagrin, I had loaded the wrong file! It was a practice file I had created early in my Jutoh learning curve. I immediately cancelled its availability for purchase.I then spent several hours trying to upload the correct file - a much larger file - and was not successful. Since then I've unsuccessfully tried several options and exchanged a couple of emails with KDP support and they're looking into it. They said they'd be back to me by next Monday. We'll be traveling for Thanksgiving, so I doubt I'll get it resolved until after Thanksgiving.This publishing adventure has been nearly as much work as my thru hike! :-)
Date: 2015-12-09
To: Kindle Done!
Miles today: 0.0

Yay! It¢s done!The Kindle version of ¢AstroGuy¢ is now available at Amazon.com! $3.99 ¢ Much less than the paperback version! :-)Just search Amazon for "AstroGuy" or click on the following link.AstroGuy Kindle: www.amazon.com/dp/B01807ZU0OTo see sample pages of either version, just click on the version and then click on the book cover in the left column. Background: Before Thanksgiving, KDP support sent me an email saying that my file was not a valid mobi format and that some 3rd party applications may introduce errors when creating mobi files. They recommended I use their KindleGen application to generate the mobi file. I¢ve been busy and didn¢t get back to it until yesterday. After some research I found out it was pretty easy. I downloaded Kindle Previewer, which can display a normal Kindle (mobi) file or can automatically convert a limited selection of other formats to mobi using KindleGen. One of those formats is epub. (doc or docx is not one)With one click I had Jutoh2 create an epub file rather than a mobi file. I then simply used Kindle Previewer to open the epub file. It created and saved it as a mobi file ¢ which I then successfully uploaded to KDP!Quite an adventure - which started out just trying to get a hardcopy of my journal for Linda¢s folks!I¢ll leave this post up for a while, and then go back and consolidate all these posts into one.Have a blessed Christmas!
Date: 2014-01-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I stopped working full time 3 14 years ago after my last company sold, and I have been in a period of trying to figure out what I want to do next, at every level. Should I retire? Go back to the field I left? Start a business? Seriously downsize and travel with my wife?The possible answer came from an unexpected direction. While talking to my son Joe on the phone in November about this dilemma, he began reflecting on the benefits of his cross country bike ride in 2013, of having long time to think about what was important to him. Yes, he was alone, and frequently lonely, but that time alone really helped propel him to the next part of his life.That somehow twisted into my long time but almost forgotten desire to hike the Appalachian Trail. As a 20-something, this notion was almost my young self telling my older self to do something large and physically meaningful and difficult when older. To renew physically and mentally at a stage of my life where both might be at risk.The more I have thought about this, about actually doing the Trail, the more focused and excited about the possibility I have become. My wife and I have talked and she enthusiastically supports this journey ¢ I am grateful to have her. But there's still a lot to do and agree on before starting the five million step walk.The comic Stephen Wright once said "Anywhere is within walking distance, if you've got the time.We'll see.