morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-04-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So I kind of have to bring everyone up to date as to where this all started. Some people start their research (gear, shuttles, clothes ect.) at the beginning of the planning stage. I have finished most of that. In fact, the months of researching gear and clothing are over. I have all my gear, shoes and clothing. I have taken many shakedown hikes and went through the tedious process of multiple trips to REI both to purchase and return stuff. It has been a life giving experience! Back in the fall I took up the task of minimizing my life. I got rid of everything I don't use on a regular basis, and minimized my belongings to a few rubbermaid containers and my furniture. Than came the tough part; shutting off the cable. At a cost of 200 bucks a month it was a drain both financially and mentally. It's amazing how little time you waste watching TV when you don't have one. At first, the people at the cable company got the best of me. You see, when you call to cancel they run you through a full spectrum of psychological warfare. They have the nicest ladies politely remind you of the World Series and you must not be much of a baseball fan. Click.....as I hang up with a cold sweat. The Phillies going to the World Series and my being from Philly meant my hippie quest would have to wait. After the World Series I was victorious and shut it off for good. Than came the saving. I've saved as much as possible still having an apartment and a large car payment.   When I leave my job (I already resigned) I will cash out over 200 hours of vacation time. In addition to that I am hoping for the third large installment of a bonus the army is paying me. I should have more than enough to hike 6 months and cover my bills.....I hope.   There is alot more to catch up on, it will have to wait until later.
Date: 2010-04-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

So I left off somewhere around saving money and already having planned out my hike.   The original plan was to leave sometime in April. My brother, having been the catalyst for this hike was on board in the beginning. He moved up in Febuary and our plan was to stew here for a couple months and than be on our way. A bum foot, gout attacks and a weaning bank account have left his hiking plans in jeapordy. He is a wild card in all of this. While at a wedding in October, my friend Sean from my fire department inquired about my hiking plans. He was on board from that moment and I knew he was serious. We researched gear together, took a series of shakedown hikes and had exchanged our movies and books we had purchased. In Febuary, on the day my brother came home, the Army contacted me about a possible assignment at Walter Reed in Washington DC. I am a Critical Care nurse in the Army reserves. However I am in a program called the IMA (Individual Mobilization Augmented) which means my only commitment is for two weeks a year, and possibly to backfill positions opened up by deploying soldiers. For the next six weeks I did a a bunch of paperwork and made alot of phone calls only to find out I was never eligible for the position in the first place. However, I did find out that I absolutely did need to do my two week annual training in Kansas beginning June 6th. This was a set back. My friend Sean had been waiting on my plans, finally conceded to start without me, and is now on his 5th day on the trail. Here is what I know. My last day of work is May 6th. I will be in Kansas from June 6-20. I will be getting on the trail shortly after that. Here is what I don't know. Whether I will be joining Sean wherever he is for a flip flop hike, or heading to Maine to do a south bound hike. A flip flop is when you start somewhere, hike to the northern or southern terminus, than travel back to where you started and hike the opposite way until you have finished. Either way is considered a thru hike. Decisions decisions. When you plan something like this, often you feel as if those mountains are sitting out there conspiring against you, offering annoying "haha's" at your misfortune, thinking of new clever ways to stop your quest to climb them. As if there is a God voice up there....."STAY HOME JOHN". Boy, I can't wait to see what they throw at me while i'm actually on them. I can almost envision myself hiking along clumsily clutching my leg as my life blood pours out of a gash in my leg, all the while taking it in stride while lightly whispering "I love you trail, I love you." The AT has eluded me thus far. It's been a dreamy footpath so close to my heart but seemingly distant from my feet. Not much longer......oh im gonna hike you AT. Boy am I ever.
Date: 2010-04-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Aubrey....is my girlfriend. We met while she was a nursing extern in my ICU, and I was often her preceptor. She is now a nurse in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) in the same hospital that I work. When you take up something like this, it comes with the reasonable questions, concerns and doubts of the people that love and care about you. None more than my lovely girl Aubrey. I'm sure you can imagine how the conversation goes when you bring something like this up. "Hey hun, I'm gonna quit my job for 6 months and go walk 2200 miles". The look of bewilderment and dissatisfaction are inevitable. You see, long before I decided to do this, I had been trying to volunteer for a deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, so my trying to leave wasn't a new concept for Aubrey to tackle. However, going to Iraq involves a paycheck and some sense of patriotic service, sacrafice for the greater good if you will. Hiking the Appalacian trail involves a beard, a stench, and no income. At least thats what it seems to the non hiker. So you try to explain the best you can and give rationale. Problem is that there aren't many. It's just the kind of thing that you may never understand unless you are the person in which this type of life adventure appeals to. I am very lucky that Aubrey has in fact become very supportive through our long talks, daily web surfing of whiteblaze.net, and multiple trips to REI. It was hard to explain that wanting to do something like this had nothing to do with me wanting to leave her, or loving her any less. It has everything to do with me, and nothing to do with her. I love her very much and have every intention of spending my life with her. What also helped was that her father was very much fascinated with the idea, and had always wanted to do this himself. My hope is that Aubrey and her father will visit me at several points along the way. Some sweet trail magic to look forward to. I should also tell you that Aubrey's mother has played a signifigant role in this trip, going as far as offering to let me stay with them so I could ditch my apartment and save more money. Aubrey and her family are a huge part of my life and I feel very blessed to be a part of theirs. The Appalacian trail will not change that. My parents are a bit of wanderers themselves. My father left his job so they could do missionary type work in West Virginia, and they now live in Lancaster, PA. They met this idea with nothing but enthusiasm. Churchill
Date: 2010-04-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I must say, it is odd speaking to a group of people arent following this journal yet. I havent given this journal information to one of you yet, so I don't have a soul following. I hope you all enjoy it when I do finally get around to making my journal known to everyone.So there are some happenings as of late. First, my friend Danny and I moved the last of my stuff out of my apartment to storage yesterday. It was a weird feeling. I had been there since 2005 when I got home from my deployment to the middle east, and right after my first excursion. It was never my home. For the last 3-4 years, I have never felt "home". I would drive to the place I stayed, but never had that inner warmth after a rough shift at the hospital to be going "home". I still have no idea where "home" is. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever. Anyway, I am all moved out and staying with Aubrey and her mother who just moved into a new house.The next thing involves Sean, my friend who already started the trail after I had to put my plans on delay. He has not up dated his trail journal in a few days, and I was telling my friend it was pissing me off as I really enjoy reading his updates. Side note...you can find his journal my typing "sean" in the search bar and scrolling down to Sean Monahan. Anyway, yesterday afternoon I got a call from him. Turns out he has a bum foot, and after 100 miles and a trip to a foot specialist he had to leave trail for a while. He was obviously really bummed out. The good news is that it is nothing that should not heal in a month or so. So...the duo is back!!!! Sean will be starting a southbound with me in June!!!! When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Sean my friend, this southbound is gonna be the best damn lemonade you ever tasted. Anyway, not wanting to hang around town, he went straight up to New Hampshire to his parents cabin. When I finish work next week, I'll proablly go up there for a while before heading to Florida. As for my brother, the original part of the duo, he is living with a buddy in York, PA. He is picking up some work and chilling out there. He is still a wild card. I am really hoping he finds a way to go, but he has got to follow his dreams, not mine. If those mountains are calling him, he will be there.Until next time.......
Date: 2010-04-28
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

¢I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.¢ -- Henry David ThoreauI think one of the most appealing aspects of thru hiking is putting your stuff aside. Or in my case, parting with much of it. The quote I put on one of my first entries is really a sticking point with me. We just get so burried under a mountain of debt and timed payments, and our entertainment is too often dependant upon the line up on TEVO. I want more. I was looking at pictures captured from the Hubble Telescope the other day. Are you kidding me? There are galaxies within galaxies sucking in other galaxies and than expoloding into brilliant colors we have never seen. And we could sit around here on little old earth and sweat small stuff. Who was kicked off of American Idol, who signed who in the first round of the draft, did Ryan Howard deserve the contract he just signed? If I'm gonna sweat the small stuff, I can't wait until the small stuff is whether I should eat one granola bar or two, push on to the next shelter or stay put, spend an extra ten minutes in my sleeping bag? Why not?Simplicity. See quote above. Thats really what its about. If I can somehow thru hike the Appalachian trail, I imagine it will make everything else that much easier, that much smaller. I will forever have the knowledge that all I need to be happy, all I truly need, is a pack on my back with some essentials, a trail ahead of me and a place to stop for the night amongst good company. I'm not a thru hiker yet. I should make that perfectly clear. The term "thru hiker" belongs to those who have already triumphed in the journey that I prepare to embark on. The ones who have already given their sweat, tears and blood to the trail. Who have basked in its glory, been humbled by its greatness and who have been embraced by the sweet simplicity of trail life. I am attempting a thru hike. Until the moment that I complete it, I am a section hiker. There are thousands and thousands of section hikers. I hope that in 8 months time I will not be one of them. I have no idea what it what will feel like to stand atop that little rock above that little plaque on Springer mountain, but I do know that I intend on finding out.I know how hard it will be. I know it hurts, I know how small it makes you feel, I know that sometimes you require several motrin in the morning before you can even think about getting out of your sleeping bag. I know that I will miss Aubrey terribly, I know I will have to fight off doubts. I know that one wrong misstep and it can all come to an end. Still, I never stop wanting it, even longing for it. Its splender, its beauty, its beatings. I have a feeling that given time, it will feel the same way about me......
Date: 2010-05-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well I am back home, returning from Florida yesterday. Aubrey and I woke up at 5:30 and drove the complete 1000 miles back to NJ returning around 10pm last night. What a great time I had. I spent the first week in Tampa with my sister and 11 month old niece Bella, just relaxing and enjoying the sun. Aubrey flew down after a week, and we went to Disney for 6 days. I've been to Disneys Magical Kingdom twice before, but only to spend the day having drove from my sisters. To stay at the resort and get the full Disney experience was amazing. They really do make it magical. However, magical tends to come with a hefty price tag. At every corner, and in every way, Disney makes sure that you have the time of your life. In exchange, its kind of understood that your going to fork over some cash to ensure they make that happen. Disney has just perfected everything. Do you want to know what their secret is? I figured it out. Disney has perfected the art of the cold blast of air in your face. When you walk by any store, the doors automatically open and you get hit with an enticing cold rush of air. The kind that entices you come on in and have a look. When your standing in line for a ride, you are hit with this air a multitude of time. So instead of remembering a miserable line, you remember the cold rush of air and the neat mockups they have to entertain you before you actually get on the ride. During the drive home, I couldnt help but think of the trail. Almost non-stop. As I drove through the pines of Georgia and South Carolina, I opened the window just to take in the fragrance. I enjoyed the lakes, the changes of scenery, the places where trees hang over I-95.. As I nudged Aubrey to tell her of these things, she reminded me that she was indeed dating her father. Not being big on talk radio, she listened to the likes of Gavin Degraw and Jesse McCartney on her Ipod, all the while offering me an earpiece to listent along. "He's really good John, he's really good" spoken with conviction of a 14 year old trying to convince their father to put on the cool radio station in the car, or suffer through a CD of the latest teeny bopper trend. Rest stops dont do justice to these landscapes that are new to you. I dont like nasty bathroom smell mixed with my Georgia Pines. I was also thinking of the sheer magnitude of the trail. The distance I drove over 16 hours going 80 miles and hour..... yeah, I intend on doing that much on foot......TWICE.......with thousands and thousands of feet of elevation, stream crossings, wildlife, heat and cold all thrown in. Sweet. I'll be laying low this week before I head out to Kansas to do my two weeks for the Army. Just about a month until go time. Cant wait.Churchill
Date: 2010-06-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Back in New Jersey! After spending the last two weeks at Fort Riley Kansas doing my annual training for the Army, I am down the shore at Aubreys familys shore house, and happy as can be. While I enjoyed my experience working in the ER out there, I was just bored and missed Aubrey. Leaving for two weeks right before the beginning of my trail adventure was not ideal but it is my duty, and I had to go. I didnt do a whole lot out there. Spent alot of time working, and kept up with my workouts. The biggest thing I needed to accomplish was passing a PT test, so I would be up to date in the Armys system and eligible for promotion. I was able to do that, and was fortunate to recieve an outstanding Officer Evaluation from my supervisor. Kansas is quite different than New Jersey. The small town outside of the post caters to soldiers, so it consists of fast food, strip clubs and bars. Basically, there was nothing for me to do. I went on some nice drives, and enjoyed the historic nature of Ft. Riley. It is where Custers Cavalry was stationed before they were massacred at the battle at little big horn. All of the original buildings from the 1800's are still there and are situated in a place called "Old historic post". They are all still used to house units and offices, gyms and museums. My time was spent working as a staff nurse in the ER. The acuity was much less than what I am used to, but I enjoyed taking care of soldiers and their families.I'll be down the shore until WED, than back home for the last few day before I leave. Wow, I cant believe this is actuall going to happen Can't wait!!
Date: 2010-07-11
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Heading back on the trail today after a wonderful zero day here in Monson. This is a must stop for anyone on the trail. The breakfast itself is worth it. You order one, two, or three. You will recieve that number of everything. Three eggs, three sausage, three bacon, three pancakes, and a huge amount of amazing potatoes, as well as coffee and orange juice. And its all you can eat! I needed to send my tent and few other things home yesterday. I bought a tarp for my hammock, and have decided to go with that since it is so comfortable. Anyway, I could not find a box to fit my tent, and the post office was already closed. Dawn, the owner searched high and low for a box. She got an idea.....she pulled the box out of the fridge that holds the bacon. "Will this work" she asked. It did! Than we judged the prices and weights of packages having been sent here to estimate how much money I should leave her to mail it. I was willing to way over pay for her services (she's going to mail it for me) but only took 15 bucks and said she would not keep the extra money but donate it for the next hiker needing to mail something. i met some really neat people here. A retired NASA rocket scientist named TIC who is about the finish a NOBO thru. He showed us all kinds of cool gadgetry you can download on Iphone with GPS and maps and stuff. Another guy from South Carolina is resting his foot a week after already doing the Southern Section before flipping to Katahdin to head south. People are so giving. On three occasions I have been given first aid supplies by NOBO hikers. Chitlin, from Lancaster PA gave me a whole tube of AD oitment for my diaper rash. Another guy on the trail gave me some cream to keep my feet dry. He said he had been holding on to it in case SOMEONE ELSE needed it. I had a lengthy conversation with the owner of the General store named Tim. His store is the kind of place you think only exists in movies. Old rickety wood floors, shelves with bare living essentials and an ice cream stand. On Friday we went down for live music night (in the general store). A gathering of 12 or so musicians on bangos, guitars, flute, clarinet, and other stringed instruments Im not sure the name of. It was superb. Back to the trail in an hour or so. Its me against the chipmunks and flies......round two. I am BEAST.
Date: 2010-07-17
To: stratton
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

"In the end, only kindness matters" -JewelWhat is a trail? I'm sure a lot of people envision a 8 foot wide path through the woods covered in soft pine needles right? Not so much. My definition of trail has changed. What I have experienced so far isnt so much a trail, but rather a "way". Its a way you can you go. Sure there are white blazes on the trees marking the "way", but the trail falls far short of anything easily negotiable. Roots, rocks, mud......40 foot slabs of wet granite with white blazes on them tellng you to somehow get up them. So I look for blazes and search for a "way" to the next blaze.I am in Stratton Maine tonight at a Hostel. Seven days since the last town and about 185 miles in. We climbed our first 4000 foot mountains today since Katahdin. The climbing was hard but my God was it worth it. The views were breath taking. I'm getting used to the climbing. Its kind of nice because it pushes our heart and luncgs to the max giving you a nice endorphin rush. My blisters are not healed but getting better. Yesterday was my worst day on trail. Lets just say I caught a little stomach virus. I had to stop and go to the bathroom no less than 15 times. I couldnt keep anything in and I was severely dehydrated. I pushed on and climbed over little biggelow Mountain making it to the camp site around 7 pm. I've been hiking with "Tater chip" and Geo. Tater chip is the fella from South Carolina who is retired and runs a farm for hobby. He is 63 and is about as nice of man you could ever meet. Its worth hiking with him just to listen to his accent all day. When he agrees with something his reply is two "yes sirs". Yes sir, Yes sir. He ran all the machinery for a plant that makes the flowtron and TED devices they put of your legs in hospitals to prevent blood clots. Sean had to go home. He woke up with a puffy eye one day and immediately recognized it as symptomatic to something that caused a detached retina in the past. We are all really bummed and hoping he makes it back.I'm down 20 pounds, it just melts off out here. Anyway I'm gonna down a few brews and hit the sack. I will update again tomorrow with much more detail.Churchill
Date: 2010-07-19
From: Stratton

To: Crocker campsitr
Miles today: 7.3

So here is my first update from the woods. I'm at high elevation and have service!We left out of Stratton right into a 2000 foot climb up Crocker mountain. At first I felt like being in town made me soft, with excess huffing and puffing. However, before long I was flying. I listened to my Ipod for the first time and it was sweet. Mostly Dave Mathews and OAR, good jam bands. However, at some point it switched accidentily to gangster rap. The kind I have for running and the gym. Well don't you know Tupac just threw me right on his shoulders and carried me the rest of the way. Maine Wilnderness and gangster rap.....oh Boy!!Because of Tater Chips brilliance we had hot dogs for dinner. Yep we packed out dogs, buns and mustard. Despite raining all day we were determined to get a fire started and cook those suckers. With some grit and determination we were successful. Boy was it great. Than I pulled out a little surprise....marshmellows. It was nice. You can only do that type of thing on the first night out of town so you have to capitalize. Suprisinhly there are a bunch of other people camped here. College students doing research and 5 Army guys just home from Iraq out for a relaxation section hike.It's only 7 but probally going to go to sleep soon. 14 miles tomorrow with sick climbs. The ninja chipmunks are in the tree next to my hammock doing surveilance on my food bag. If they move one inch closer.........I'll kill em' deadChurchill
Date: 2010-07-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I was hiking along listening to my Ipod, rather content in John world getting my fix of John Denver while enjoying the last of Maine. I was singing loudly......Country roads take me home.......when I turned a bend and two Northbound hikers were there staring at me obviously a little strangely, with an expression almost to say "as if". In my loud blaring headphone voice I said " IM LISTENING TO JOHN DENVER". There expression remained the same. I tipped my cap, looked them in the eye and belted "WEST VIRGINA MOUNTAIN MOMMA...." as I hiked along.Good bye Maine hello New Hampshire!! Stay tuned for a legnthy update tomorrow when I get to a computer. I took my first bad fall, ate fish for the first time and hiked my happy butt across my first state border!!