morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-09-01
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-To

To: Crocker Cirque Campsite
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Happy Labor Day and, yes, I am still laboring. It's the end of my sixth month - half a year! That sounds so extreme. I'm not an extreme person. Really.I fell again today. Chief and I were walking through a bog. The Maine trail club had kindly placed boulders for us to hop onto - except they were rounded, and hard to balance atop. Still, we were making good progress when suddenly I caught a toe. Momentum had already carried me forward as my right leg jerked backward. I knew I was going down. Remember, with a pack on, you fall like a toddler - splat! I recall seeing a rock rushing up at my forehead, and another coming up to smash a knee. I gave sort of a turn in mid-air, and landed to the side of both of them. On my back, in the bog. Like a turtle. Fortunately I was unhurt, only wounded pride.The pack seems extra heavy today. Did I pack it wrong, putting too much weight at the bottom? Can I adjust it here, or there? It's one of those days that, no matter what I do, the pack doesn't fit right. It's part of the AT experience.Mid-morning, we pass a plaque commemorating the CCC, which helped build this section of the Trail in the 1930s. I ask Chief: "Isn't the spot where we go below 200 miles somewhere around here?"He checks his guidebook: "We're at mile 199.8."Yes! Under 200 miles left to go! We high-five."You know what's better than breaking 200 miles?" says Chief. I know the answer. It's one of our rituals. "Yes! Breaking one hundred miles!" I answer gleefully.Chief is ready to be done with the Trail. He talks about it all the time lately. It's his third year out here. I believe I am about ready to be done as well. Maine is very beautiful, and I am loving this fall-like weather. But I am weary. I'm about ready to go home. The big effort of the day is Sugarloaf Mountain, home of a popular ski resort. As Maine's second-tallest peak, I'm told, Sugarloaf bows only to Katahdin.I was afraid we would have to climb up the thing, but thankfully we went past the summit trail. A side trail led to the top, where Itchy had recommended I stay for the spectacular sunsets. But we get there too early in the day to stop, and it's cloudy anyway. So we press on to Crocker Cirque Campsite.The descent from Sugarloaf Mountain is crazy, and we are tired. The trail drops steeply, and is littered with slippery dirt or ball-bearing gravel - very slippery. No footstep is trustworthy. It takes a long time, and we are worn out by the time we reach the river at the bottom.I make a delicious dinner of mashed potatoes, turkey gravy and pouch chicken. I chat a bit with section hiker Ramblin' Rose, who did the Long Trail last fall, and whose wife is also a dressage trainer. There's a hairy woodpecker outside my tent platform. It will tap,tap,tap the branch of a birch, then fly off and disappear into a hole in another birch. It keeps poking its little face out, thinking perhaps we can't see it. Little clown.And that's the start of my seventh month. Yes it is.
Date: 2003-09-25
To: Black Mountain Crest Trail
Miles today: 0.0

Hard to say how reentry is, because I've been sick with a cold. Lots of folks to see, but just kept a low profile. Didn't want to be Typhoid Shoe of Southern Pines. Didn't want to infect my 85-year-old father either. Tomorrow, I adjudged, I'd be well enough for a visit to him. He lives in the foothills of North Carolina, so while I'm up there, I'm hoping I'll feel well enough to tackle the rugged Black Mountain Crest Trail above Asheville. Yes, I probably need my head examined, but I am considering picking up a backpack again, even if for a short while. Gotta work off those post-AT calories...Only 12 miles long, the Black Mt. Crest Trail in the NC Pisgah nonetheless traverses six 6,000 footers in the first six miles. Yowza! I did a little search on the web, and the scenery is spectacular. It seems to have a reputation as the toughest little trail in the southeast, physically challenging due to the elevation gain. Mount Mitchell, the highest peak on the east coast, is the first thing we meet coming out of the starting gate.Shoot, why not? They say backpacking is like childbirth, right? You quickly forget the agonies, all you remember are the coos and smiles...It's been boiling hot here compared to Maine, so I'm looking forward to a little more mountain air. My friend Sly, a Triple Crowner, promised to show me how to use a map and compass to navigate. And my new AT buddies, Homeless and Unemployed, want to go too. They are living in Asheville before starting the PCT next spring.So, I'm hoping that health, shuttles and weather all conspire to get us four up into the mountains. If we do go, I'll make a separate trail page for this short but spectacular stretch of North Carolina heaven, in case someone else wants a nifty chunk of the Tarheel state to explore...I have my fingers crossed for clear weather and clear lungs. If it's raining, forget it! I've paid those dues. Another time...
Date: 2003-10-22
To: Odds and Ends
Miles today: 0.0

Hi,It's hard to fathom all the details in setting up one's life again. I've been looking for a house to buy, or land to build on. I still haven't yet reconnected with all the folks dear to me. I've even worked a little bit (but not much). I had planned and saved reentry funds, something I would strongly urge any long-distance hiking candidate to consider. It's a bit of a soft-landing cushion, without tapping my capital and inducing panic. There definitely is a vacuum, although I am glad to be here at "home". The old Trail routines are irrelevant, and lots of the pre-hike routines are too. So, that leaves the future wide open - appealing, and yet also somewhat daunting. I have no doubt things will sort themselves out, so for now it's just choosing to be okay with not knowing.I've taken advantage of this unstructured time to write a bit. Folks are writing to me still, asking where to send their Hopsice pledges. Thank you, friends, for your diligence. The address to send the checks is: First Health Hospice150 Applecross RdPinehurst, NC 28374Some wanted to use a credit card. The phone number there is 910- 695-7500. Tell the receptionist it's for the Hospice Hike.Finally, I heard some excellent news in a recent letter from Sonic and 'Guana. They summitted on Katahdin with old friends Fly and Smoothie. After the testing cauldron of a seven-month AT trail hike, their relationship had survived and even thrived - no small feat in such a challenging environment. Atop Katahdin, at the end of their hike, Fly proposed to Smoothie. Talk about laying it on the line! What a mountain, granite and awe-inspiring, for a life-changing proposition. There wasn't, I'm told, a dry eye in the house. Congratulations, you two!
Date: 2003-10-24
To: ULA P-2 Pack Addendum
Miles today: 0.0

Several folks have told me that there was no weblink to the ULA P-2 on the Gear Page. So I did a web search on ULA Equipment and found all sorts of info, including reviews by independent sources like BackpackGear Test. Google it in, hikers! I know you're enterprising, because you want to hike the Appalachain Trail.Here's the link to ULA 's Options page: (The p-1 is their frameless pack).http://www.ula-equipment.com/webpages/packs/options.htm I will say I also liked the Osprey packs. Tho I didn't hike with them, I trained with one and it was very comfortable (as packs go). I liked the Mountainsmith too, but everyone who had them was forever stopping to adjust the millions of adjustments. The truth is - there IS no perfect pack, the one that carries your load like a feather. If there was, my friend Chief would have found it by now. There's just better, and worse. Does that release you to go forth and buy? Pretty much anything under five pounds will do, three is better - but, as I said, people have hiked the whole Trail with big-ass packs, or little rucksacks.Jan LiteShoe, AT Class of '03
Date: 2003-11-13
To: A Poem 
Miles today: 0.0

The Journey by Mary OliverOne day you finally knewwhat you had to do, and began,though the voices around youkept shoutingtheir bad advice---though the whole house began to trembleand you felt the old tugat your ankles."Mend my life!"each voice cried.But you didn't stop.You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingersat the very foundations,though their melancholywas terrible.It was already lateenough, and a wild night,and the road full of fallenbranches and stones.But little by little,as you left their voices behind,the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds,and there was a new voice which you slowlyrecognized as your own,that kept you companyas you strode deeper and deeperinto the world,determined to dothe only thing you could do---determined to save the only life you could save.
Date: 2002-12-31
To: Unknown!
Miles today: 0.0

Also a little pushed, since I have to be completely out of my barn by tonite! It has been astounding to me what I have sold, given away, donated. If I think too much about the mere pennies on the dollar I am salvaging, I could become ill. So, like Scarlett O'Hara, I don't think about it too much.I have watched in wonder, as my life of the past 30 years - a life of full-bore horse ownership - flies out the door. It's as if someone else was doing the sorting.And what's left has been distilled into four Rubbermaid tubs - not the giant size, either. The surviving distillate is pretty much what I use every day in training - the core stuff. All the horseKEEPING stuff? Gone. This is an amazement to me. I wonder if I will ever own horses again. I am loving the freedom to be away on weekends without worrying whether a client's expensive warmblood is colicking. There are plenty of lovely barns in this area to work out of. I don't have to feed them every morning.But it's more than that. The intense equine connection - where has it gone? I still love, love, LOVE being eyeball-to-eyeball with a student or a young horse. The "juice" is still there.But right now, I don't want to own a horse. There are winds blowing through me that are shaking me to the foundations, yet all I am feeling is the gentle breeze of preparation.What's going on? Eh? Once again, I am getting this odd "the-mind-is-the-last-to-know" feeling... I like to think "I" am in charge of my life, yet this whole Trail Odyssey has me questioning as to who/what is driving the boat here. It's hard to explain, if you've never lived through it.This time, instead of fighting this current (as I did the concept of walking the Trail), I am watching it. Letting it happen. Staying curious as to how it all turns out.Though unsure what of is going on, all this tossing out and letting go, I am finding it immensely liberating. Why doesn't everyone do this every five years? A total top-to-bottom evaluation of their Life Stuff?In truth, I should have done this years ago, though probably I would not have been as thorough.At the same time, putting all my things into storage feels very rootless. This is a bit unnerving. For one, whether we admit it or not, we do create a certain identity around "stuff." So, once Jan the HorseGal is packed away, who is left?And then too, freedom itself can be unsettling. Unencumbered, I could go anywhere, be anyone. If I think about it too long, one of two reactions bubbles up: exhilaration, or queasiness. It's a coin toss.Well back to the barn. Tomorrow - ha! I start on the HOUSE!2003- my year to walk.Feliz Ano NuevoJan Leitschuh (LiteShoe)AT Class of '03Jan LiteShoe, AT Class of '03
Date: 2004-04-09
To: Time for a Hike
Miles today: 0.0

Time to investigate the veracity of the slogan "you CAN go home again."My head has been spinning wildly out of control with this house-building and financial reentry business. A weekend jaunt to Erwin, Kincorra and Damascus to stalk Hippie Longstocking last week completely settled me down. I became very in-the-moment, and my cares dropped away... My friend said he could see the stress drop from my face. I sure did have a great time.So, I figure it's time to really run away for a short bit. Self-employment rocks. Leaving for a little two-week, spring-training, flab-control jaunt southbound into Hot Springs with Stumpknocker. Looking forward to meeting the oncoming NOBO class of '04.Hoping to connect with my '03 hiking buddy "Just Do It," who is starting over again from Springer after fracturing a wrist in PA last year. Possibly run into another NOBO buddy Art too.Mebbe the snow and ice has melted coming down off the 6Kers. Hope so. I paid my dues. Now I am just "skimmng the cream," as my old buddy Chief would say.For anyone in the area, Mountain Man is having an Easter feed/party Sunday about 2Pm at the Sidetrack in Damascus. Thinking we'll start there, then drive down Kincorra way.Adios for a short while,Hiking-Again Shoe
Date: 2007-08-08
To: Vermont State Fairgrounds Aug 17-19
Miles today: 0.0

Well, my friends,I hope time finds you all well, and that you've found the opportunity to fulfill some of YOUR dreams.I thought I would toss in an update, years later.Another wrinkle in this "hike thing" appeared. It seems a book has emerged from the cosmic stew of my head, five years exactly after my first long distance hike.I got this notion, see (always a suspect beginning, in my case) to take a close look at my hiking origins. Where did this thing come from? After all, I was not a backpacker when I got the notion to hike the AT. It had never been a lifetime ambition of mine. It was this idea that just ... appeared. It seemed a mysterious thing, this hiking obsession, and I wanted to explore that. I chose to write about the Long Trail, because after all the gear weighing and purchasing and testing, after all the reading and question-asking, even after a few test hikes, you still have to put it all together, lay it on the line and go for a good, long walk to see if you can hack it. I wanted to know if I could hack it before I blew my life up to walk the AT. So I chose the Long Trail, a lovely, testy trail in it's own right - the nation's oldest long distance trail, in fact. A venerable trail. I could get there and back in a month, and thus retain some semblance of "normal life" (heh) as my life raft if I dipped a toe in the long-distance waters and found them not to my liking, jumping back with a squeal and saying "Ooooooh!"In any case, this book, a product of 18 months of toil, is finished.If you'd like to check it out, click: http://www.FunFredom.com my website.If you'd like to "dip a toe in" and order, there is a button on the page.If you live in or near Vermont, I'll be at the very first Long Trail festival in Rutland at the Vermont State Fairgrounds on August 17-19.There's free camping, fellowship and speakers (like me!). I'll be speaking at 2:30 on Saturday in the Dairy Building, wherever the heck that is. But I'm sure I'll find it. After all, it is the State Fairgrounds.Here's THAT website:http://www.longtrailfestivalvt.com I'll have books there. Maybe I'll see ya there.Many happy trails,Jan "LiteShoe"LT '02AT '03BOOK '07
Date: 2003-02-25
To: Journal Created
Miles today: 0.0

The purpose of this journal is to allow our friends and family to follow our progress as we hike the Appalachian Trail this year. Where available, we will use public libraries or Internet cafes to make entries directly into this journal. When that isn't possible, we will mail handwritten journal entries to Ron and Becky Morgan, who have volunteered to transcribe them into this online journal. Likewise, we will mail digital camera memory cards to our son Scott, who will post the photos here. So there will obviously be significant time delays between events on the trail and what you read here, but it's better than waiting for the slide show next winter! We hope, through this journal, to share this special adventure with the people who mean the most to us. We hope you enjoy it.
Date: 2003-02-26
To: Physical Preparation
Miles today: 0.0

"You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them." --Michael Jordan Our decision to hike the AT coincided (roughly)with my retirement from the Social Security Administration in September 2002. We knew right away that we'd have to get serious about our physical conditioning or we'd never make it up the Approach Trail to Springer Mountain,GA, much less all the way to Mt. Katahdin in Maine! Duane was in relativley good shape from walking the golf course regularly, but the extent of my workout involved lifting a fork during my lunch hour...Quite a few reps, but nothing that improved my fitness!We started going to the gym for strength and aerobic training - thirty minutes on an incline treadmill followed by thirty minutes of strength training - three to four days per week. In November, I added a 4 mile walk twice a week. Our conditioning improved, but not radically enough to get us in trail shape. Desperate measures were in order...On January 1st we started the "Body for Life" program. We alternate aerobic and strength training, working out six days per week. We also alternate upper and lower body workouts on strength training days. In early February we added two yoga classes per week to improve our flexibility. We've seen significant improvements in both strength and aerobic endurance, but I still look like one of the "before" shots from the "Body for Life" book.We started our "real life" training with day hikes in the area. We are fortunate to live in an area with so many beautiful hiking trails. As soon as we had our gear assembled, we took some fully loaded day hikes. Our first overnight backpacking trip was to my brother's backyard in Rogers - an easy hike and a great way to "field test" our gear with an easy bail-out if needed (we didn't)! As soon as the weather warms up above freezing, we plan to take regular two to four day trips around the area. We've also scheduled a "shake down" hike for Spring Break (March 13-23) on the Ozark Highlands Trail. This will include a mix of easy and challenging hiking, and a final shot at working the kinks out of our gear and camp routine.
Date: 2003-02-27
To: Food Planning
Miles today: 0.0

"If anything is certain, it is that change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow."                            - Philip Bayard CrosbyOne of the most common questions we get about our AT thru-hike planning is ¢What are you going to eat, and where will you get it?¢ This journal entry will talk about the plans we¢ve made for resupplying during our hike.We¢ll each need to eat between 4,000 and 6,000 calories per day. We want our food to be as lightweight as possible, so we look for foods that average about 125 calories per ounce. Some AT hikers buy all of their food in the trail towns along the way. Others send food (¢maildrops¢) to themselves at post offices in towns along the trail. We plan to do a mix of the two options. I have dehydrated about 40% of the meals that we¢ll need for the six month hike, and we¢ll pick up the balance as we go. This will allow us to have a more varied diet, buying fresh fruits and veggies when we can find them.My sister-in-law, Karen Weiler, has graciously agreed to be our ¢support team.¢ We¢ll give her our itinerary with projected dates for boxes to be mailed, and then we¢ll let her know if we run ahead of or behind schedule so she can adjust the mailing dates for our drops accordingly. Our maildrops will include food, vitamins, AT maps for the next section, pages from a novel and pages from a crossword puzzle book. We plan to get a maildrop every seven to ten days along the trail. We¢ll also ¢bounce¢ a box from post office to post office, taking what we need and sending it forward to the next town. The bounce box will have repair kits, batteries and a charger, spare equipment, and detergent, among other things, in it. Before we leave, we¢ll post a complete list of our maildrop sites to this journal (see the tab to the left) so you can see when and where we expect to get mail. We gladly anticipate receiving home-baked goodies and mail from our friends and family at home while we're on the trail (hint, hint!)
Date: 2003-02-28
To: Gear
Miles today: 0.0

"When you're prepared, you're more confident. When you have a strategy, you're more comfortable." --Fred Couples            Since we hadn't done any backpacking since we were in college and the only camping we've done in the past twenty years has been car camping, we started from zero, gear-wise (and everything else-wise, too!), when we decided to hike the AT. We subscribed to several Yahoo Groups for backpackers (Backpacking Light, Hikers-R-Us, Hammockcamping, Women Hikers) and read web pages for the Appalachian Trail Conference, Whiteblaze.net, Trailplace.com, HikingHQ.net, and many others. We also read every book we could get our hands on, including "The Complete Walker IV". And then we went on a buying frenzy. We had daily UPS deliveries for weeks, and my Jeep knows its way on autopilot to every outfitter from Fayetteville to Tulsa and between. You remember the upsurge in the retail segment late last fall? I think we had a LOT to do with that...Once we'd assembled everything, we weighed it and - SHOCK! - it was heavy! In the neighborhood of 45 pounds for Duane and 38 for Laura. So we did some serious trimming. Then we posted our list on the backpacking group sites for comments, and nearly started a civil war between the ultralighters and those who believe carrying a little more for in-camp comfort could be justified. After watching the frey for a while, we did some more cutting and ended up with respectable pack weights of 29 for Duane and 27 for Laura (including four days' food and 2 liters water each). No doubt we'll be cutting more as we hike. We'll be able to swap-out some of our gear for lighter-weight summer versions for parts of the trip, so our packs will become lighter as we progress. We will end up carrying a Europa 2 tent, Western Mountaineering Megalyte (good down to 30 degrees) sleeping bags, Thermarest Ultralite pads, Platypus "Hoser" hydration systems, and an MSR Superfly stove. Duane will carry a ULA P2 pack and I will carry an Osprey Ariel 75. For the first six weeks or so we plan to use Aqua Mira (a chlorine dioxide water purification agent) to treat our drinking water, and then will switch to a Sweetwater Guardian filter. Everything else will be in our "bounce box" to add to our packs as the need arises. More likely, though, that we'll be shedding gear into our "bounce box" halfway up the trail!
Date: 2003-03-08
To: Hiking Plans
Miles today: 0.0

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want." --Ben Stein            We are getting a late start for north-bounders, and, since we'll be S-L-O-W hikers, we do have some serious concerns about hiking straight through to Katahdin and finishing before mid-October. So we're making some contingency plans, with the agreement that we will be flexible and open to new plans if one presents itself while we're on the trail.Our current plan is to hike from Springer Mtn, GA to Damascus, VA, then skip over Virginia ("leap-frog")and start hiking again in Harper's Ferry, WV through to Maine. After we summit Katahdin, we'll return to Damascus and hike the section to Harper's Ferry, finishing in late October. This plan has the advantage of putting us in Harper's Ferry in mid-June, right in the thick of the pack that left Georgia in March. We'll then have the opportunity to walk north from Harper's Ferry with "the pack" and enjoy the rest of the trail experience with other thru-hikers.Another possibility is to "flip-flop", that is, hike as far north as we can go, then go to Maine and hike from Maine south to where we leftthe trail. This has the advantage of allowing us to make a straight shot through to Katahdin if everything is going smoothly for us and we're making good enough time. The disadvantage is that our southbound portion of the trail would be done pretty much alone, as the other south-bounders would be a couple of months ahead of us.For now, we'll plan on the "leap-frog" and plays things by ear once we're out there on the trail. Hope to see you out there!