morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2013-01-31
To: Starting to think about dropboxes
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Spent some time yesterday digging through our stockpiled food items trying to organize by category. When we're out shopping and see something that looks just right for the trip, we grab it. Oh, what a surprise - the 'snack' container contains the most items. We're good at finding cookies and candy and treats that will put a smile on our face when we dig them out of the pack.Created a spreadsheet of the categorized food to make it easy for Bek & Zac to replenish the containers when they start to empty. They'll be our dropbox coordinators (packaging them up and shipping them out to the locations where we'll be expecting them). Haven't yet created the list of good places to have supplies sent. Hoping to minimize the number of these shipments. It's expensive to ship and a lot of work but there will be times along the trail when it will be hard to find some of the basics that need to be replenished. And, in addition to food, we'll be needing to exchange heavier clothing and sleeping bag with lighter ones when the weather improves. And then change back to the heavier items again late in the hike when we hit Massachusetts or Vermont.The dropboxes get shipped to post offices or hostels that we know we'll stop at and held there for us. Once we get our drop locations more ironed out, we'll post them on the 'Mail Drops' tab to the left of this page. More on this later....
Date: 2013-02-10
To: Identifying Maildrop Locations - part 1
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Okay, the daunting task of identifying maildrops...We will use maildrops to receive boxes from our Trail Coordinators or to receive mail or goodies from anyone who is so inclined. (hint, hint)Our Trail Coordinator will be sending items of gear or clothing or food that we will need to continue on. This might include replacement socks or other basic clothing that might wear out. It will include our change of season clothing and gear. After Mt Rogers in Virginia, we will have our warmer weather clothing and sleeping bag sent and we will return our colder weather ones. As the weather turns colder when we reach Massachusetts, we will do the opposite.From the Trail Journals of other hikers that we've read and from chatting with thru-hikers, we already know the value of receiving mail and goodies. Appetites get pretty voracious so goodies help to fill the ever expanding stomach. But even more precious is the contact from family and friends that can fill up a void in the heart from being away. SO if you're so inclined to put a smile on the face of a hiker, know that it would be truly, truly, truly appreciated by these hikers. Hint, hint, hint.Our maildrops are identified on the 'Mail Drops' tab to the left. NOTE: You must include the bold-face name of the business on the address label. And also insert our names in the appropriate place. Today 9 mail drops were identified. As we get closer to actual hike time, it will be necessary to start adding ETA's to those mail drops to identify when we will be arriving at that location. The maildrops that are further along the trail will have ETA's added much later in order to have a realistic timeframe (although we may put a guess ETA out there as a placeholder). And we may add more maildrops if we find exceptionally convenient ones. The difficulty with maildrops is that you have to select a place that there is a high probability that you will actually want to go to during the hike AND one that you will easily be able to get to during their 'open' times. Getting into nearby trail towns is often not very convenient and walking extra miles (off the trail) will not be much fun. We've avoided post offices because if you end up there on a Sunday morning, you are forced to hang around a day to get any mail. And with the threat of the post offices possibly closing on Saturdays or small post offices along the trail closing for good, that compounds the problem. So we tried to select places that we would probably be staying at and taking a 'zero' day (staying 2 nights) that had long 'open' hours. That alleviates the problem.So more on maildrops later, but for now it is quite a relief to have at least made a stab at identifying them. It took a long time to put that much together. Good thing Miles is a patient researcher!!
Date: 2013-02-11
To: Our Trail Guide & Sample plan for the early miles
Miles today: 0.0

We'll be using David 'Awol' Miller's "The A.T. Guide". It is a wonderful resource for the $16 it costs. It contains so much detail about the trail and trail towns. Can't remember if this was covered in previous posts, but will add a few words here. The guide lists many things that you'll encounter along the trail: bridges, creeks, roads, shelters, tenting spots, water sources and much more. It includes the mileage at each spot. There is an elevation map running sideways along each page so you can see what terrain you will be up against. For every shelter or tent location, it includes icons that indicate whether you will find water or a privy and how many the shelter can hold. For trail towns, it includes distance from the trail, convenient places to stay along with phone numbers, and often maps with locations for post offices, groceries, laundromats and (best of all) places to eat. Okay, so we've already highlighted some Dairy Queens - that was to be expected. The guide is a wealth of information at your finger tips.Spent the last few days browsing our Trail Guide putting together the list of establishments where we will be trying to stay (either due to affordability or due to reputation among hikers). Also put together a sample spreadsheet of the first 270 miles to gather some experience at putting together a plan considering all the variables. We will not be following this plan exactly, but it will give us an idea of where we can take our 'zero' days (rest days with no hiking) and where we can conveniently get resupplied. It was a tedious but good exercise. Generally this will be done on the trail and will be time consuming there also. Imagine at the end of a long hiking day - laying in a tent or shelter with your headlamp strapped to your forehead, reading through the trail guide and trying to plan the next day or so while your partner or all the shelter occupants snore. On our two previous backpacking trips, it was common in this scenario to have Miles say "Are you listening?" to Side who seemed to be able to drop off to la-la land with no notice.Now some folks just wing it. But Miles is a bit more of a planner than that and will have to balance planning ahead with the freedom to do what the trail and your mind dictates when the time comes. Suspecting this is the last point when any long-range planning gets done.
Date: 2013-02-13
To: Inflating the Air Mattresses
Miles today: 0.0

About 10 days ago we picked up the Instaflator that we had shipped to Mom by mistake. Now it's time to test it to see if it will be worth taking along. In the past it's been Miles job to inflate both the air mattresses because it requires sitting inside the tent - something that isn't very comfortable for Side. Our Neoair has a storage sack that attaches to the air mattress. I generally shake it to get some air inside and then squeeze it forcing air into the mattress. It's a little tedious but better than having to blow air into the mattress which allows moisture from your breath to get in.The Instaflator is a really long plastic bag that attaches to the air mattress. You blow a bit of air about 12 inches from the end of the plastic bag which then causes the bag to fill with air and then you roll up the plastic bag to force the air into the mattress. Worked well in the comfort of our own home. Just not sure how convenient it will be on the trail. Would be easy to do outside of the tent. Seems like it will be difficult to do inside the tent so on a rainy day will probably drop back to using the storage sack method. Forgot to weigh the Instaflator but it is very lightweight.Jury is out on whether it will make the final cut of gear that actually makes it out on the trail. But for now it's tucked in with Miles air mattess and hoping it gets to go along.
Date: 2013-02-14
To: Getting the Tunes Ready
Miles today: 0.0

It's so nice to have some music out on the trail. Side spent quite a bit of time this week surrounded by stacks of CDs tackling the tedious chore of loading CDs out to iTunes which then he'll dump to our iPods (hopefully without wiping out the music already on them). He was quite a trooper about it and stuck with the task using 'Storage Wars' to break the boredom.Quite an assortment of tunes - from oldtime favorites to Bekki's college music. And then Miles had all her CDs she listened to at work. They all should bring back a lot of memories. For the last couple of years we've had Sirius on the car radios. Don't much take the time to listen to CDs anymore. So it will be an enjoyable experience.In the evening in our tent, we mostly try to save the battery by sharing one iPod - laying side by side, each with one of the earplugs. Of course, if you make any movement you yank the other person's earplug out and they groan and have to search around to find out where it landed. Oh, what fun we have.This trip we'll probably be using some music to help us on the uphill climbs. We'll try to refrain from sharing one iPod. It's hard enough for us to get up the hills.
Date: 2013-02-21
To: Starting to get some exercise
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

This winter has been a time of not getting enough exercise and gaining weight. Finally got out to get a little exercise in the past week. Joined up with our friend Colette a few days for road walks - with some hills thrown in. Felt good to be out and about.Tomorrow heading out of town to a family wedding on Miles' side. Looking forward to seeing everyone one last time before our hike.
Date: 2013-02-23
To: A Lovely Family Wedding
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

What a lovely time we all had at Kiley and Steve's wedding. Congratulations and wishes for a lifetime of happiness to that sweet, fun-loving couple. After putting a lot of time and energy into planning our daughter's wedding this past July, it was nice for us to just sit back and relax this time. Makes you able to really appreciate all the little wedding touches knowing how much goes into each.Oh so many cookies. Why was it necessary to try them all? Wondering whether the hiking clothes will even fit at this point. Good thing most of them are stretchy.
Date: 2013-02-27
To: Relaxing time with Mom
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Since we hadn't gotten to do our normal holiday visit with Miles' family, took the opportunity to spend some extra days there. Okay, how lazy could we be. Ate, relaxed in recliners and played games for days. And then there's the matter of the Christmas cookies that we weren't around to enjoy that we now had to catch up on. And the hiking clothes will be even tighter now.Happy Birthday, Kathy !!
Date: 2013-03-01
To: Treating Side's back (ok, that sounds weird)
Miles today: 0.0

We had hoped that the back injections Side had last March would carry him through the hike. Well, no. He started having the beginning signs of trouble again. So off today to take care of that. That will slow us down some on our plans to start getting out in the woods with a daypack. He'll need to gently work into it. So it's looking more and more like we'll be starting the trail with little trail prep. We were in pretty good shape last Fall so maybe we'll be able to manage - guess we'll have to take it slow to start.Learning how to get different types of data over to the Kindle. Sending over some documents that we'll want to refer to on the trail (maildrop list, addresses and phone numbers, and such). We start every new day feeling like we can accomplish a lot but everything takes time. We'll get there in time (or not).
Date: 2013-03-02
To: Transportation plans - finally
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Oh joy, joy, joy. We finally have made some decisions on transportation. Been going round and round trying to decide between car, train and plane. So we've finally decided on all of them. Rent a car to get to the airport, fly to Atlanta, and take rapid transit to the end of the line at North Springs station. There we'll be picked up and delivered to the Hiker Hostel where we'll organize our packs, relax for the night and prepare to begin our hike the following morning. We've heard such nice things about this hostel run by former thru-hikers and were lucky enough to be able to reserve a private room. After two years of planning, it is about to begin. How exciting is that.So here are the dates: March 27 - travel to Georgia March 28 - start the trail at Springer Mountain, GeorgiaFeeling like there are still so many things to handle but just tackling them one by one. Hoping to get more of the big ones off the list.Going out to dinner tonight to celebrate the fact that we've made the arrangements and it seems like we actually will be going to Georgia. It's getting very real now. Yahoo !!
Date: 2013-03-03
To: The Smokies, Gathering Clothing, Journaling
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

This morning did some researching about hiking and camping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It used to be free to stay at the shelters but now in 2013 we must pay - what timing. So just before we go we'll need to pay $20 each and print our reservation papers. We'll consider it a donation to upkeep which we like to support anyway. Thru-hikers MUST stay in the shelters if there is room and MUST make room for anyone with reservations (like our reservations aren't real reservations). That means that if we're in the shelter and the shelter is full and anybody but a thru-hiker comes along at midnight and has a reservation, someone must evacuate the shelter to maker room for them. Won't that be handy? Pitching your tent and moving out in the dark. All part of the adventure. Decided to pull out our clothes that we'll be taking on the trail. Side had a quicker time with that than Miles did. Guess Miles has too many choices. We're afraid our clothes for this season will weigh too much and take up too much space in the pack but we need to stay warm. Everything has its trade-offs.Played with the cell phone using the email function to generate test journal entries. Using the microphone helps a lot to reduce the amount of typing but you have to correct mistakes the voice recognition software makes. Also seems to be a 1000 character limit to the email messages. So we may need to send multiple emails for a day. Guess we'll figure it out more as we go.
Date: 2013-03-04
To: Back to the iPod and other items
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We haven't used the iPod for years so busy trying to remember the specifics of use. Thought we were going to have to drive over an hour Saturday to an Apple store to have a new battery put in the iPod. Calling to make sure they had the battery set off a whole chain of annoying events with them. Side ended up figuring out on his own that the iPod is actually charging and will work for us. Saved us spending money unnecessarily. Seems like the wallet just stays open when you're planning a long-term event like this hike - and everything is a hefty price.We haven't really used the iPod all that much previously so Side is trying to learn all the specifics of its functionality, including how to interact with iTunes. Got out for a 5-mile walk today - Side's first exercise since his back injection. Took a nice gentle road walk. Felt good.
Date: 2013-03-05
To: Finding Many Ways To Use The Kindle
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Loading up the Kindle with books and organizing them into collections to make things easy to find. Started with a lot of free ones and may buy some just before we head out. Found some free games for the rainy days. Finding lots of other things to put on the Kindle to keep us from carrying paper. . a family photo. a couple of first aid guides in PDF format. our list of maildrops. hoping to get some trail maps over but haven't had luck with that yet. user guides and warranties for electronics. hints and tips that will be handy along the trail.Now Miles just hopes she can justify the weight to actually carry the Kindle.
Date: 2013-03-06
To: Trail Hike today
Miles today: 0.0

Headed out on the A.T. today to get in some trail miles since we've mostly been doing road walking. Okay, it's official - the winter has allowed us to get way out of shape. We huffed and we puffed. But it felt good to be out in the woods again. Only took our daypacks today since we're not quite ready yet for our backpacking packs.The weather was funky today with the winter storm approaching. Sometimes it was windy and we had light rain pretty frequently. The trail was a real mix of conditions - snowy, icy, muddy and even a few little segments of bare trail. There was more snow and ice than we expected and that slowed us down a tad since we're trying our best not to get injured before the big day (or after, for that matter). Of course, Miles had blister problems - even using the special blister bandaids. No hope for those feet.Had a little excitement at the start of the day. As usual, Miles had to run back in the house to get something she forgot which seems to irk Side to no end. You'd think he'd be used to it by now (but no). We drove two cars so we could leave Miles car at what would be the end of our hike and then drove together in Side's car to the beginning spot. Now Miles did say something to Side as she placed her keys in his glovebox so she wouldn't lose them on the trail. And he even kind of heard what she said. Well, fortunately 10 minutes down the trail, Miles realized not having her keys was going to be a huge problem on the other end and dashed back to the car to get them. Whew, a catastrophe averted. Always a little excitement at the beginning of the hiking season until you get back in the groove and remember all the things you need to have with you.Hoping to get out in the woods many more times before our actual start date. But there is an awful lot of preparation work still on our plate. Things are slowly falling into place but seems like when we take one thing off the list, three more get added. Funny how that works. Well, not really all that amusing, but you're all familiar with how that happens.
Date: 2013-03-12
To: Packing, Packing, Packing for days
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Over the past 5 days we've been spending a lot of time packing (in addition to getting out walking every day). Sure takes a long time to get the right stuff together. A few days ago Miles took on the task of packing our food to take with us at the start of the trail and also the food for our first two maildrops. Our plans are to rarely have a cooked breakfast just so we can get an early start on the trail. Lunch won't be cooked either. Dinner will be the meal we'll consistently have hot (at least until hot weather arrives). We may change our minds once we get out there but for now that's the plan.A week ago we worked on packing the clothes we'll be taking and the clothes we'll be wearing. More recently we focused on all the little things (not gear and not clothes) that need to come along. There may be something that gets pulled out once we realize it all doesn't fit or the total weighs too much. Such an emphasis on weight for obvious reasons.Then we focused on getting together all the gear. Decided we better see if the colder weather sleeping bags would even fit in the compression drysacks. And the answer is - not easily.And now the fun of trying to get it all to fit in the pack. Miles' pack is small because she's short so she won't be fitting the kitchen sink in there. The colder weather sleeping bag and clothes are heavier and take up a lot more room in the pack than the summer version ever did. And separately we packed the 'change of season' clothes and sleeping bag which will be sent to us somewhere in Virginia once we're past the cold, cold nights.Needless to say there is backpacking stuff spread out in every room. It will be a miracle if we have things in the right places.
Date: 2013-03-13
To: How To Ship Items
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Since we're flying to Georgia we have to think about how to transport things so they don't get damaged and (please, please) don't get lost. We'd love to take everything as carry-on luggage so we can have everything in our possession and within our control. But there are all the airline rules about this and that. There have been recent announcements about some changes to what you can carry on the plane with you but they don't take effect until April.So just when you get everything all packaged together the way it would be nice on the trail, you have to tear it all apart again to take out any liquids, gels, and such. Now there's no real problem with the size limit of 3 ounces since backpackers don't tend to carry anything larger than that. But you can't take a fuel canister - luckily we are able to buy that where we're staying (please remind us to not to head out to the trail without the fuel). And then there's the trekking poles that can't be carried on. So jury is still out but looks like we'll be using a 3-prong approach. Send some stuff ahead to the Hiker Hostel.Use an old suitcase (that we no longer want) to carry some items that will have to get checked at the airport.Carry our packs with a lighter load so they fit carry-on regulation sizes. Whew - that was a mouthful. Cross your fingers that things sent ahead and things placed in the cargo part of the plane don't get lost and actually make it in one piece.
Date: 2013-03-15
To: Another Prep Hike on the A.T.
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Today we headed out for another 7-mile hike on the A.T. continuing on from our hike of March 6th. It was cold, 35 - 42 degrees, but no rain. Unlike the previous hike, the trail was almost totally free of snow and ice. The hike didn't have a lot of elevation changes but it was a chance to get more used to some weight on our backs. Miles carried about half her starting weight and Side carried over half his starting weight. Ran into four teenage boys out trying to get into shape. Saw a beaver atop his dam and a couple of ducks took flight as we passed. Also ran into Sasquatch who is a hiker and local trail maintainer. Stopped and had a nice chat with him about some of the local trail history but had to move on because Miles was starting to freeze. Didn't take long for all the muscles to stiffen up.Off to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee to warm the insides.
Date: 2013-03-18
To: Another Road Walk
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Too busy for the previous few days to get in any hiking. Went out today for a 7 mile road walk. The packs felt heavy but we trudged along. We're in for some snow tonight. Great!All the last minute stuff is very time consuming and the brain gets muddled trying to keep it all straight. Pretty soon we'll be boarding the plane (one week, ahhh!) and then it won't matter anymore. What we don't have we won't have - at least until the first Outfitters.