morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2009-04-01
To: Purchased my camera
Miles today: 0.0

WooHoo. I got my camera today. I already had a very good home digital camera but I needed a small good quality compact digital pocket camera for my thru hike. I did not want to carry around my bulking 5.5 lb home camera. I wanted to stick with Cannon because I love my other Cannons that I have owned and I think Cannon puts out one of the best cameras (personal opinion).   I have been researching pocket digital cameras for a few weeks now. This article was pointed out to me and it really had me convinced http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/compacts/sd880.htm.   I really want to get the newer Cannon camera but this guy that wrote the article said that the newer one (sd990) was really not worth it for a few reasons. I made the plunge today and went out and bought the Cannon SD880 IS. I stopped on the way home and took a few pictures to see how I liked it. I was amazed at how well the zoom worked for such a small pocket camera. The only drawback that I was unsure of when I bought it was that it did not have a view finder. It is all LCD screen display for taking pictures. After playing with it some I have discovered that it really is not bad dealing with the LCD screen. The older cameras went through batteries using when the LCD screen when taking pictures. This one does not seem to suck up batter juice doing it.   I am hoping to fit a backpacking trip in this weekend and will try out the camera in the environment that I will be in during my thru hike.
Date: 2009-04-25
To: Bigelow traile reroute hike
Miles today: 0.0

I have not written to my journal in a long time. I have to lot to share but don¢t know if I want to do it all in this one entry.I went to the Bigelows yesterday and today. Yes both days. My plan was to spend the night Friday night along Flagstaff Lake after I had collected data for the new reroute that is going to take place on the Appalachian Trail. I needed to collect that information to include it in our AT guide book ¢Appalachian Pages¢. I collected all the tracks in my GPS on Friday and got back to the truck and you won¢t believe what happened. I deleted the tracks by mistake. I don¢t know exactly how I did it yet but I did. I used both sets of batteries that I brought collecting the data in GPS. So I could not go back out and redo it. I figured the best bet thing to do would be to drive back home and get a good night sleep and come back out in the morning and do it all over again. This time I would slack pack while doing it.I came back on Saturday and got everything accomplished and came back home without any screw ups this time.I can so however that when I went out Friday I hiked with all the gear that I will be carrying at the start of my thru hike with the exception of a little less food for this trip. The hike was a little over 5 miles and the pack felt great. I am very happy with how the pack feels on my back. I found one thing I did not like about the pack. That is the side hip pockets. It is a real pain in the butt to get anything in and out of them. I ended up taking my camera out of the side pocket and putting it in my kilt pocket.Speaking of kilts, I have been hiking with my kilt for some time now but never went without anything underneath. That was until yesterday. I finally wore the kilt the way a kilt was intended to be worn. I figure I better start getting use to it that way if I am going thru hike with it. I had not problems or issues. I found that it was a little cooler as I had known it would be. I brought this up to my wife when I got home and she said. ¢YOU NOT GOING TO WEAR ANYTHING UNDERNEATH¢. I said that is the whole purpose of wearing a kilt. She was shocked. She was worried that everyone would see my stuff. I said I will just be careful about how I sit down. I said I would have to be careful just like when you women wear skirts. She is still in shock. I think she wants me to wear something underneath. I will not bring it up to her again and then she will forget about it and all will be well.I have been really concerned about my knees lately. I have been having a lot of problems with them at work and I am worried it will prevent me from hiking next year. I had no problems with my knees while hiking the last two days. This is good but I am still a little concerned but not as much as I was.I have been thinking more about why I am really hiking the AT while I was out hiking this weekend. There is a lot more to it that I will bring up in another entry.
Date: 2009-04-28
To: Haircuts and shaving
Miles today: 0.0

Thoughts on haircuts and shaving   It has been quite a while since I got a haircut, probably over six months ago now. I started thinking about this some over the last couple of weeks. What I think I have decided is to stop getting any more haircuts until after I have completed my thru him in 2010. That would make my next haircut next October sometime. Wow, that could be the longest I have ever had my hair. I am wondering how I will deal with it because I have come to like keeping my hair fairly short. If it gets to be to much of a bother I will cut it but right now it feels kind of nice.   I will however keep shaving until I start my thru hike. I am thinking about shaving my mustache when I start my thru hike. I think the last time I shaved off my mustache was around 1985. I have been thinking about saving it off but my wife does not want me to so what better time to do it than when I start my thru hike. Once I start my thru hike I will most likely not shave again until my thru hike is complete.
Date: 2009-05-03
To: I need a ride to Springer
Miles today: 0.0

I had a loop thrown in my plans yesterday. The person I was driving down and starting the trail with next year on 15 March has just told me that he will not be thru hiking next year. This means I have no ride down from Maine at this time. I have 10 months to figure something out so I am not too worried at this time. The guy that canceled was not a hiking partner we were just starting out together because we were both from Maine and he was a ride to Springer. The reason for my start date of 15 March all stemmed from that being the date he planned on starting. This now means I am not stuck with a 15 March start date. I really do not want to start any sooner than 01 March. I would prefer to stick to the middle of March but if I can find a ride down I will start anywhere between 1 thru 15 march. I am sure things will all work out. I will not fly that is my only stipulation.   I am working on getting the WhiteBlaze, HammockForums and other web sites and there server all ironed out so that there should be no maintenance needed while I am gone. I will be checking into the web sites and the server about every week or two on the trail. I have also assigned a person to take care of the server while I am gone also. This person knows what he is doing so I am not worried about the server and the software to much, it is just the unplanned things that scare me.   I will probably have to stop selling WhiteBlaze patches and close down the sponsor block on the front page while I am thru hiking. The reason for this is because I do not want to deal with handling any types of monies while I am on the trail for fear of forgetting to update accounts and not being able to mail things out.   Most of my worries are really not about the web sites and the server though. My worries are about having everything ironed out at home before I leave. I want the wife to be able to do her day to day routine without having to worry about anything or doing things that I do while I am home. I am currently working on trying to find someone to mow and take care of the yard work. I don¢t know how much that is going to cost me for the whole summer. That was something I had not planned on.   All my gear is tried and tested though so I am ready to go. I am really looking forward to this adventure.
Date: 2009-05-18
To: Update
Miles today: 0.0

I had a great visit to Trail Days this year. I met a lot, friends, previous year thru hikers, current thru hikers and 2010 thru hikers and thru hikers in planning for a few more years out. It was great talking to 2010 thru hikers because I was planning a 2010 thru hike. I have some really great times with some fellow hammock hangers from the web site www.hammockforums .net.   Saturday evening proved to be a great get together at tent city with the annual Billville Useless Gear Contest. That is always guaranteed to have you rolling on the ground and this year was no exception.   There was one downfall to the whole weekend. The last day as I was getting ready to part Damascus I was informed of some news that may cause me to cancel my thru hike in 2010. I was some depressing and hurtful news that is personal and I will not discuss but I am still going to try to work out things to remedy this situation.   I purchased the last two items that I needed to start my hike next year in case things all work out. I purchased and Snugfit under quilt for my hammock and a pair of long underwear for the first part of my hike. This means I have no other gear at this time I need to purchase to start my thru hike, YEAH RIGHT, there is always something to find either to swap out with something lighter or possibly better.
Date: 2009-12-12
To: Update on what I have been up to
Miles today: 0.0

I just wanted to add and update real quickly about what I have been up to and why I have not made any journal entries.I have been very busy over the last two months. I took one side of my two bay garage and enclosed it and turned it into an office space and move all my WhiteBlaze equipment and computers into it. This took about three weeks to get done. I have also been working on yard work. This need to get done before the snow came. I got most of it done with the exception of raking the acorns. We got some early snow this year and that made it impossible to get done. That reminds me, I never did get any arrangements made for someone to mow the lawn and do the yardwork while I was thru hiking next year. I will have to depend on my wife to get that done once summer gets here, that is a little scary.We also had one of my wife¢s friends moved into our house and she has two children. She is going through a separation right now. This is a good thing for the time being because my wife will have someone here at the house with her while I am thu hiking. That took about a week or two of rearranging the house also.For the last month I have been working on new software that was released for the WhiteBlaze web site. I would like to get it installed before I leave for my thru hike. The software is a major upgraded form what was being used in the past. It took some time for me to figure out all the new ins and outs of it. The major problem so fare with it was trying to get it to look like the old layout and colors. I have that pretty close now. I am hoping to install this before the end of December. I would like it on the web site and running for a month or two befoe I leave. I would be a load off my shoulders knowing it was working smoothly before I left.I am real close to purchasing my tickets for leaving. I decided a couple months ago that I would have all my tickets before Xmass. That¢s is only two weeks away now. I will most likely purchase my tickets next week sometime. I priced them a couple of days ago and the bus from Portland to Boston and the Amtrak from Boston to Gainesville will be a total of $194. The total travel time will be about 23 hours.I will be starting a workout program next week to try to get myself into better shape for the upcoming hike. I have been going to physical therapy for about a month now for a knee injury I received at work. That is almost over with but the guy helping me with my therapy said I could keep going to the place and he would put me on a program to help prepare me for my hike. I am planning on taking advantage of this. I will see him this coming Tuesday and he will set up a schedule for me.I have all my equipment ready or my upcoming hike with the exception off the new water filter I am waiting for. I want to use a gravity feed water filter to help save on weight. I was told it would be here in January. I will still have my pump home that I can have my wife send me if I am not happy with the gravity feed filter.Currently that is where I stand. I will try to make an effort to make more journal entries in the future.
Date: 2009-12-29
To: Freaking out and very nervous
Miles today: 0.0

It has been a while since I posted. I was working on my own journal site but have not got it all ironed out yet. I will start posting here again until I decide.   I am really freaking out and getting very nervous now. We are almost down to the two month count down. The part that has me freaking is putting in my notice at work. That will be the point of no return. I am very scared about quitting a good paying job with all the benefits. Quitting a $20 an hour job is not an easy thing to do, knowing that I will never come back to a job that pays that much in this area.   I am really excited about this adventure though. I have a friend that will be starting out with me (Mad Mike). We are taking the Amtrak down together and starting on the same day. This however does not mean that we are committed hiking partners. We are each going to hike our own hike. If we stay together so be it. If not, O well. Mike is good people so I am hoping we stay together. Mike is only saying right now he is going to hike for two months. He also said that he might just keep on going and do the whole trail.    I have already made the reservations at the Hiker Hostel for Mike and myself. The next step besides giving my notice at work is purchasing the Amtrak tickets. I have all my gear with the exception of the gravity feed water filter that I am waiting on.   I have been doing physical therapy for the last two months for a knee injury I received at work in September. It still hurts but the doctor released me and said that there was nothing he could do other then surgery. He also started that it was not bad enough to do surgery and that I will be fine with it for my thru hike. He told me that I could keep coming to the clinic for free and working out until I left for my hike. He added some more exercises for me to do that will help me. I have been riding the bike twice a week and doing exercises now. I hope this will help my endurance.   Here is my train of though. One of the biggest problem people have when starting out trying to do a lot of miles. Whether this be the need to hurry or just a ego thing it is what does them in and lots of them end up getting off the trail. I plan of doing only 8 to 10 miles a day for the first couple of weeks. This should build the muscles up in my legs and help my knee get in shape. After that I will play it day by day. It would be nice to be able to break the 10 mile barrier on the third week though. I know I can do more than 10 miles in a day because I have done it before. I just don¢t want to start out by overdoing it. I do not want to be one of the statistics.   Ok, enough said for now.
Date: 2010-01-03
To: New stove setup
Miles today: 0.0

I also forgot to mention that I switched my stove setup over a month ago. I switched to the Caldera Cone. This system works better and faster than any alcohol stove system I have tried and I have tried a lot of alcohol stoves. It also uses less alcohol. I did switch out the stove that came with the system with the homemade stove that I had made for me. The reason that I switch out the stove was because my stove is 12 the size and does the as good of a job as the stove that came with the cone. The cone makes all the difference though. It is custom fit to your pot but in my opinion it is well worth the money. For those interested in checking out the cone here is the link Caldera Cone.I am also one more step closer on my checks list now that I have the WhiteBlaze software updated. I can now check that off my list of things to get done before I leave.   With the new forum software upgrade it also added blogs to the web site. This could prove to be an asset to the web site. User can us the blogs as journal software. I have already started moving my journals over to WhiteBlaze. It is really relatively easy to use the blogs as journal software. People will realize that if they give it a chance.I picked up my new pair of prescription glasses three days ago for my thru hike. They cost $400 but I think that will be well worth it. They are photo sensitive lenses and wrap around the face just like the new style of sun glasses people are now wearing.
Date: 2010-01-05
To: Bills squared away and Amtrak ticket purchased
Miles today: 0.0

Wow, I got a lot accomplished yesterday. Renewed my driver license, pick up a new military ID card. I set up automatic withdrawal for my life insurance and mortgage insurance policies so they get paid while I am gone. I also got my debit card set up for my hike. I looked over my finances and it looks like I will be better off bill wise than what I thought. The only bills my wife will have to worry about paying while I am gone is the electric, phones, cable/internet and her food and gas for the car. If she can not cover those bills then there is definitely something wrong.Today I called Amtrak to asking about their pricing and how far in advance I should purchase my ticket. They explain that as the train started filling up the price of the ticker would rise. It was $40 cheaper to take the train one day earlier from our original date. I called my partner and we decided to leave one day earlier. We went ahead and purchased our tickets and changed our reservation at the Hiker Hostel.Yahoo, there is pretty much no turning back now without losing money. I am almost there.
Date: 2010-01-06
To: Hair length
Miles today: 0.0

Had something interesting happen to me at work the other day, I was told that my hair was long enough where I now needed to where it up. If is just starting to touch my shoulders. I knew this was coming and was prepared for it. I had one of my hiking buffs stowed away in my tool box for this day. I chuckled when they told me. I don¢t think they realized that I was not going to cut my hair.   I normally do not let my hair grow. I usually keep it just over the ears or shorter. I started letting it grow this past summer because I wanted to see how long it would be after my six month thru hike. After six months had passed I decided to go one more month. After seven months I figured what the heck, I might as well let it grow until after my thru hike. Maybe it will be long enough to donate it to Locks of Love. If it is long enough I will. If it is very close then I will let it grow until it is the right length. I need to find out what the right length is for donating.   I have never had my hair longer than the bottom of my ear lobe and that was in high school. This is really strange to me having it this long. I like it but I feel sort of like I am out of place. I am just use to having short hair.
Date: 2010-01-07
To: More memory cards
Miles today: 0.0

I received my last order from newegg.com yesterday. I picked up two more 8gb memory cards. That gives me a total of 8 cards now. With each being 8gb. That should be plenty enough for my camera. I also picked up a four port usb wall plug for charging my camera or any other devices when I get to a town.I also place an order yesterday for a ccf pad to place under my sleeping back in my hammock. I will be using a down under quilt under my hammock on the outside but it only covers the torso. I purchased the ccf to put under my legs. I will cut it when it comes in to only cover my leg area.The only thing left to get for gear now should be my gravity feed water filter. I will contact the person after this post and check on the status of it. I have a PUR water filter already in case this gravity feed filter does not come. I would just like to get the gravity feed filter to save a little weight.I am also test this post by sending it with my blackberry.
Date: 2010-01-08
To: What ifs
Miles today: 0.0

A lot of things have been flooding through my mind over the last week. One of those things has been failure. I see not room for it but if for some reason I am not able to finish the trail I have come to this conclusion.   It is not whether you finish or only walk 600 miles. It is all about enjoying yourself and having a good time. If one does not make it to Katahdin from Springer, yet has a good time and walks away with good memories and good friends, you have accomplished something good.   It is not always about the journey. It is sometimes about the friendships you make on that journey.
Date: 2010-01-12
To: Random thoughts
Miles today: 0.0

Just thought I would share some random thoughts with all of you.   I am really looking forward to getting out on the Appalachian Trail for this journey. I have wanted to do this for eight years now. I need it more now than ever. I get three weeks of vacation from the company I work for now. I usually take a week at a time and stagger them throughout the year. One week at a time is just not enough to get away and relax and get your mind at ease. It seems just when you start getting comfortable, it is the last day of your vacation. I am looking forward to this hike. I am thinking of it as a vacation, a very long vacation. I need something like this. I think I need to start a list of reasons I want be thru hiking the Appalachian Trail like Ham & Brian Glass have done.   I packed all my gear up in my backpack yesterday to see how well it fit. I have done it before but never with any type of organization or with all my gear that I will be taking on my thru hike. I was very surprised that it all fit in my pack with no problem at all. I even had some extra room.   One of my concerns is getting up in the morning and putting on frozen boots. I mean they will literally be frozen stiff. I don¢t know how I am going to deal with that yet. The other concern is staying warm on the days when the temps are in the teens or possibly lower. I know there will be quite a few days like this. I know I can deal with it when the temps are in the 30¢s by putting on all my clothes and just keep hiking. Will I be able to do this same think in temps that are in the 20¢s or lower, I sure hope so.   I picked up a new cell phone a couple days ago. It is another blackberry. It is an upgrade from what I had. This one has more internal memory and some added features. I got it for the larger internal memory. I have been using it for two days now and it does not seem like the battery lasts as long in this phone as my other one did. The main reason for carrying a blackberry is not for the use of the phone but for journal keeping purposes. The phone may also come in handy once and a while.   I found out that my new gravity feed water filter is in the mail today. I should have it by the end of the week. I am excited. That is the last piece of gear I have been waiting on.   I found another backpack I want to try but I just don¢t have another $250 to do it. It looks like I will like it a lot better than the pack I have now, it is 2 lbs light then my starting pack and 1 lb lighter then the summer pack I will switch out to after the Smokey¢s. I wish I had the extra $250 to get this pack and try it out. The other problem is that I am only about two months away from my start date and getting another pack now and finding out whether or not I like it will be very close.   I have been going through my guidebook and making notes for myself. I am getting antsy.