morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2010-06-10
From: Seeley-woodworth shelter

To: Tye River
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: few clouds

6/10Seeley-Woodworth shelter to Tye River11.7 milesTent I meant to go farther today, but a foul headache combined with the option of tenting near others persuaded me to stop at 5 pm instead of 7. Only a 9 hour walking day. The horror!  My feet appreciate it, however. Last night's storm never did arrive. I roasted in my sleeping bag. I resolved to shop for a less insulated bag at the next outfitter.  Among other things. I have no idea where I'm stopping tomorrow. Today's campsite has not left me well positioned. I know there is a long walk in the open after the second shelter.  That area is not somewhere I want to stay by myself. It's too close to road access. I don't clearly recall the tenting options from my last trip through here. I had hoped to put in a little extra mileage so I could spend more time with JD on Sunday but I don't want to be forced to walk 18 miles to find a campsite. I guess I'll wing it and hope for the best.  And then hope I can get signal to update JD on my ETA. I love being close enough to home that he can drive out to meet me for a few hours.  (and this trip has taught me that I never again want to be gone from home and JD for this long. A couple of weeks or a month is acceptable. Multiple months is not. ) After two wins in a row with Knorr sides, tonight's struck out. Chicken flavored rice with harvest vegetables. It tasted like the nasty pilafs Abi always wanted to eat in college. Yuck. I ate it, but I didn't like it. The other half of the package is going in the first garbage can I find. Loon, an older hiker on a van supported  "geezer hike" very kindly gave me a couple fingers worth of denatured alcohol. I wasn't sure I had enough to get to Waynesboro.  I definitely do now. Thanks so much, Loon!  Now I can ditch the backup isopropyl alcohol I've been carrying. It's not a first choice or even a second, but it's the best I could find in Buena Vista.I didn't sleep at all well last night in the crowded shelter. I have the feeling I'm going to sleep quite well tonight. Good night, world. Wish me strong legs and happy feet for tomorrow.
Date: 2010-06-11
From: Tye River

To: Campsite
Miles today: 12.6
Weather: scattered clouds

6/11Tye River to campsite past three ridges overlook12.6 (ish)Tent, natchI was very tired last night. I fell asleep quite early. As a consequence, I woke up around a quarter to four. I rolled over and dozed a little, but was raring to go by six. So I started packing up. Despite my early start, the climb up Three Ridges was warm. I was drinking a lot and had no urge to pee. But today, happily, the dehydration headache didn't strike. Good enough for me. I drank about four liters of water. It must have been sufficient.I had forgotten how wonderful the views were on the south side of the mountain. The scenery was excellent. Also I met and chatted with April, a section hiker. She was looking for solitude but I had fun talking with her anyway. . I told her about the awesome site DeLee and I found at the top and I saw her scouting for it later. I hope she found it and enjoyed it.I'm now one long or two short days from Waynesboro.  It depends on my feet and the weather. There is no real point in getting to town tomorrow. I have to wait for Monday to get my maildrops.  But showers and restaurant food and a dry room are starting to prey on my mind. And fruit. Cherries are in the stores. I would like some of those. And salad. And meat that isn't dried. Yeah.  Those. I just checked my little thermometer and it says the temp is 72, which feels about right. It's very comfortable shirtsleeve weather. I'm happy to be in the tent where I don't feel compelled to have a covering on me if I don't wish it. In a shelter I'd want something on me regardless, just to keep bugs off. And to be frank, to keep the monsters away. Like pulling the blankets over your head at home. The tent serves that purpose too.
Date: 2010-06-12
From: Campsite

To: Paul C Wolfe shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: few clouds

6/12Campsite to Paul C Wolfe shelter12.1 milesShelterToday was not one of my favorite days. The campsite last night was nice. I slept okay and didn't really want to get up in the morning. But then I remembered it was supposed to rain and I got my lazy butt up. The profile map looked easy but the terrain was very rocky with lots of little ups and downs. It was a sweatfest again. The predicted thunderstorm arrived after I was down from the peak of Humpback, which was good. I decided to not wear raingear and get a free shower. It was fine at first but the wet pants dragged at my legs. Not sure I'll do that again. The last two miles to the shelter were incredibly long. Everything started to ache. My neck had already ached. The feet chimed in, then the knees, hips, and back. I felt so pitiful. I don't know why I hurt so much. I already plan to take a day off in Waynesboro. I may make it two. If I really suspect Lyme sypmtoms I'll get my prescription for doxycycline filled. I was startled to have somebody ask me if my blue eyes were real two days ago. The last time I heard that question, I had Lyme bad. Something about it makes my eyes stand out. So between the eyes and the aches I'm feeling pretty paranoid about it.
Date: 2010-06-15
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

It is mighty strange to be home. Not only do they have all the modern conveniences here (air conditioning! plumbing! chairs with backs!) but all the clothes are my size and the bed is really comfortable. And I don't have to pack it all up in the morning.Plus, everybody in the house already knows my name and is happy to see me.Oddly, nobody is calling me Mrs. Joy.I've started making appointments. Most importantly with my GP (since self-diagnosis is kind of dangerous) but also with the vet and hairdresser. And soon I'll have a chiropractic appointment. There may be more! Who knows? The antibiotics don't seem to be having any effect yet. Soon, I hope. There is a ton, possibly literally, of hiking equipment that I need to sort out. I'm planning to take advantage of being home with all my stuff to swap out some items. Also my REI dividend showed up while I was away. I'll be visiting the shopping mecca before I go. I want to look at backpacks and shirts. Given how large my dividend is, I may not even spend anything out of pocket to buy them. Having an REI credit card really pays off at dividend time.I plan to venture out of the house today. Wish me luck! I've fallen asleep at the vet's office before when I had Lyme disease but had to take a pet in for something. They're very understanding there. Thank goodness they have comfortable benches.
Date: 2010-06-17
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I got in to see my GP today. She does think I have Lyme. And that I should take all three weeks of my antibiotics. And stay home until they're finished. And she's going to tell my husband to tie me to my chair if I try to leave for the trail before then. (My doctor is sassy.)She says the ticks are really bad this year. Lone star ticks, too. Then I had to go look up Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. You probably don't want to know.After that I went and got a cute haircut. Nobody will be able to see it under my hat, but I'll know it's there.And now I'll review a few more items of gear. And hope that I get to continue using said gear in about two weeks and three days.Gossamer Gear Mariposa backpack: I have a love hate relationship with this pack. On the one hand it is very light. And it has many pockets. I love this. I can keep most of the stuff I use during the day on the outside, so I don't have to unpack to do anything. And I can keep my tent on the outside, so I can put it up without unpacking (very nice in the rain) and take it down at the very last moment (ditto.) But the backpack doesn't have a lot of support, and some days it just feels like it is sagging down my back like very heavy, bulky jello. I'm going to do some pack shopping while I'm home. Might go back on the trail with the old one, might not.Montbell Ultralight Super Stretch Down Hugger thirty degree bag: It is oh so stretchy. I wiggle a lot and sleep in non-mummy positions, so I love love love the fact that I can move around and not feel constrained. The bag was not nearly warm enough at the start, and it is far too warm now. It was just right for about a month. I think ideally I'd have had three different sleeping bags for this trip - a zero degree, a thirty degree, and a forty or fifty degree. They don't make this particular model anymore so my wiggling needs may be unmet in future bags. I am really not sure what I'll take out on the trail with me in two weeks and three days (approximately.) Possibly my old thirty two degree down quilt. Its antiquity means that it's probably more like a forty degree quilt now.Therm-a-rest NeoAir small pad: so so cushy. Two and a half inches of air. I deflate it partially so my hip can sink waaay down. It is a wee bit annoying to have to inflate the thing every night and deflate it every morning. But by now it's just part of the camp routine. And it only weighs nine oz, which is less than the same length of foam pad. Now that it's pretty warm out I let part of me drape over the side to the ground to let the earth suck some heat out. So effectively it's wider for me now than it is in the winter. This doesn't work when you are sleeping in a packed shelter.
Date: 2010-06-21
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I am a bad thruhiker. I went out for crab yesterday and I could only eat three. They were larges, but still. That's a pitiful showing.JD suspects part of the reason I am a slow hiker is it is not physically possible for me to eat enough food per day to keep me from calorie deficit when I'm hiking 12 hours a day. Hence I'm always a little low energy. Which might be true. Or it might be my stubby legs. The 26 pounds I lost in three months tend to support the first theory.And now I suddenly have sympathy for one of last year's hikers, who always seemed tired and always reported teeny meals.In health news, today was the first day since I got home that I didn't have a nap attack around noon. If I'm lucky, it'll be the third day in a row without a massive pain attack around four pm.Continuing gear reviews, and starting with a question about water from yesterday:Steripen Journey: I found this for about $50 on Amazon as part of a gift pack. Which is a really good price. I got this model because it has an LCD display with a countdown and a couple of indicators on it. In retrospect I don't know that those features actually matter. If I got a new one I might get one of the other models with no display. After three months the display on mine is getting a little wacky. Also the cheapo plastic top mechanism that holds in your batteries cracked within a week of me starting to use it. Still holds in the batteries though.The Steripen is a UV water purifier. It's like a tiny lightsaber of doom for microorganisms in your water. You filter your water through something (I use a small microfiber towel) because the UV doesn't penetrate solids. So floaties in your water will keep the pen from working. Then you turn the pen on and stick the bulb in the water. It stays on for 90 seconds to treat a liter of water. You make sure any untreated water (say, drops on the side of your container, or in the lid) gets dried off so it don't mingle with your newly treated water. And that's it. You're good to go.        Good: Fast, no bad taste. Bad: Uses uncommon batteries, heavier than aqua mira, is very picky about conditions (must have warm batteries, sensors must be desert dry). Overall I like it and will continue using the system.   Platypus bladder and hose: I have the kind with the snap-on hose that is easy to remove and attach. The top of the bladder opens up and closes again with a ziploc-type closure. I've heard of other people having problems, but I've been using Platypus products for ten years or so with no problems. Trusty Gatorade Bottle: I needed a one liter wide mouth bottle for treating water with my steripen. Gatorade does the job for about a buck, plus you get free gatorade with it. Once I've filled my Platypus and treated another liter of water in the bottle, I usually add some drink mix and use it for my dinner and breakfast beverage.
Date: 2010-07-01
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

This time at home has gone by more quickly than I thought it would. First, I slept a lot. Then I caught up on my TV. (Is it still TV if it's actually DVD or Netflix On Demand or iTunes?) Then once I felt well enough to do stuff, I saw friends and rode horses. And now I'm swapping out gear and otherwise feeling fairly busy.I'm sorry to say that Lyme symptoms are still occasionally popping up. But I have hundreds if not thousands of doses of various anti-lyme herbal treatments (which have proven effective in the past) that I'll take on the trail with me. If I get Lymey on the trail I'll find a nice spot and hole up for a few hours until I feel better. I expect my mileage will go down EVEN MORE. If that's even possible.Oh, speaking of tick borne diseases, my dog has anaplasmosis. I thought she was pretty sluggish when I got home. She perked up after a while. But she was due for blood work, so I took her in today. Anaplasmosis used to be called Ehrlichiosis and I guess is now differentiated from it. I don't know why my dog caught that when I'm always catching Lyme. And I don't know why she caught it when we are super vigilant with the back of the neck tick stuff. Poor doggie. Now she's on doxycycline too. I am mystified as to why the canine test for these diseases is so much faster and easier than the human one. They put a drop of blood on a test unit, and ten minutes later got results for Lyme, anaplasmosis, heartworm, and Ehrlichiosis. Fast. Easy. Unless you count getting blood from the dog, which she did not appreciate.Anyway, I'm looking forward to hiking, aches or no aches. I'm a little concerned about the heat, but everybody else is dealing with it so I guess I'll be able to too. I'm waffling over the same issues that have consumed me for the past two weeks: tent vs hammock, hot food vs cold food, old backpack vs new backpack. And I bought a fleece blanket so now I can waffle about whether to take that or a down quilt. Fun times!JD will be driving me up to central PA next week. I still feel that the smart money is on starting close to home in case I feel too bad to hike after all.   Felix tried to persuade me to hop up to New England (why waste limited hiking time on the less pretty areas?) but I think he is biased because he'll be there too.   I've been having a wonderful time with horseback riding, spending time with my husband, and generally being unemployed and slothful. I hope the jetlag between that and hiking ten hours a day isn't too bad.
Date: 2010-07-06
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

There will be a brief delay while I wait for the antibiotics to leave my system. My last dose was Sunday. Monday I went horseback riding, wearing long sleeves and riding in a covered arena. That was no problem. However, I was hot on the way home so I took off my long sleeved shirt, under which I had a short sleeved shirt. Driving the car, with the window up, I burned my left arm and the left side of my face. Just a little, but given that I was wearing SPF 50 and it was only half an hour, I think you could probably hear the sizzling sounds from your home if I tried to hike right now. So I'm waiting until the weekend. This will also be much more convenient for my husband, who will be the one to drive me back to the trail.I have been incredibly lazy. There has been a lot of tv watching going on, and not much else. Today I've been working on getting gear together. Friday I'll make another grocery run, as I'm currently eating the fresh food I had previously gotten to put in my backpack.Oh, and have you heard about the weather? Man it's hot out there. I'm happy to be in AC right now. If I were on the trail I'd probably hole up in a motel for a day or two. I've hiked in cold, in rain, in lightning, in sleet.. but 100+ temps with humidity are a whole other story. Especially when you won't be having a cool shower or air conditioning at the end of the day. That is not something I want to do if I don't have to. It should be cooler this weekend, for a few days anyway.
Date: 2010-07-09
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I leave for the trail tomorrow!First thing, we'll get up and take off for the wild blue yonder. The tick infested, poison ivy filled yonder. Yay! With sharp rocks!You can tell I'm looking forward to Pennsylvania.Once I survive PA, I really am looking forward to New Jersey, New York, and beyond. I can't really finish packing until the morning, because I'm leaving my bagels and goat cheese in the fridge until we leave. But I'll have my first mail drop ready to be sent out (which reminds me to update my maildrop page) and my cold weather gear ready to go out, should I get that far north.PLEASE NOTE: If you use my maildrop schedule to send maildrops, the Edge of the Woods Outfitter only accepts UPS or FedEx packages. Not US Mail.I have a maildrop about every two weeks, mainly because all the pills I'm taking are so dang heavy. The early maildrops are much more definite than the late maildrops, of course.In case you're wondering how my decisions came out, here's the final list: new backpack, old quilt, tent, no pot or stove.And now I'm off to take care of last-day-of-vacation-from-my-vacation tasks.Does it seem weird to you that I'm embarking on two more months of hiking, but it now seems like a "little" trip? It seems weird to me.
Date: 2010-07-10
From: Clarks creek

To: Yellow springs village
Miles today: 6.6

7/10Clarks creek to yellow springs village6.6 milesTentToday was a good day to start back on the trail. The weather was perfect - cloudy skies and in the seventies. The section of trail where I got on was extremely gentle. The first three miles were a barely noticeable incline. Then the rest of the day was a ridge walk. I.e. flat. I didn't get walking until eleven, by the time JD and I drove up from home and stopped at a diner for breakfast. My evening achies ( a lasting gift from Lyme disease) started a little early at three pm. So rather than continue to Rausch Gap shelter, my original destination, I've stopped early at the site of an old coal mining village. There isn't much here but it's a really nice campsite.  I have my tent set up to get away from the few bugs. I'm just resting in the tent. The birds are singing all around. Under me is a soft bed of moss. What I'm saying is it is extremely pleasant. I am undecided as to whether or not company would improve the scenario. Potentially I will find out later, though I haven't seen any people since JD dropped me off. (my phone autocorrected that to "groped". It's like it knows us. )My legs felt kittenishly weak when I started walking this morning. A month of slack is not the ideal preparation for backpacking. I suspect my quadriceps are going to be extremely stiff for a week or so. My calluses, likewise, have smoothed out and will have to be painfully recreated. My left foot, however, has definitely benefited from the time off. I didn't tape a pad around the ball joint this morning. So far it hasn't complained. Perhaps it really wanted that month of rest. It hasn't gotten anything like that much time off in many years. As I walked today I pondered when the last time was that I took a whole month off. Possibly it was around 1993. I spent a while unemployed then, if I recall correctly. I mean, I realize that I also took off the three months prior to my month at home, but that didn't feel like "off". I was way too busy for that. Being gainfully employed pretty much means that I always go back to work before I'm completely healed from injury, illness, or surgery. I'm not complaining, that's just the way it is. For everybody, I guess. Or at least most of us. So it has been a huge change to be able to rest and heal as needed. It's not without sacrifice, of course. I gave up a month of an epic journey to do that for myself.  I feel like taking that time was like giving myself a giant gift.  And so is this hike, but in a different way. The time of rest was for my body. The hike is for my soul.
Date: 2010-07-12
From: Lickdale

To: William Penn shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: broken clouds

7/12Lickdale to William Penn shelter7.3 milesShelterMy feet say "Hi".  Also "Ow".  The various rocks are taking the expected toll. Ah well. I expected it. I got Trailangel Mary on the phone this morning and she agreed to drive me back to the trail. I was extremely grateful. I don't know how I would have made it even to the first shelter if I'd had to start my day with 2.5 miles of gravel road. Also my brief chat with her in the car was the closest I've come to conversation since JD dropped me off. I miss people. I took many short breaks this morning to let my feet rest. The rest of me isn't doing so badly. It was pretty warm and I went through two liters of water in the first seven miles. I'm on my reserve liter now. There are mixed reports about the availability of water. I know there is some in four miles at the 501 shelter. There may be some at the spring here on the other side of the ridge. I'm just sitting here in the shelter watching stormy weather roll in and feeling nappish. If I knew for certain I could get water I'd call it a day despite my low mileage. Just this second I'm too sleepy to make any decisions. Later: the storm turned out to be a biggy, with thunder that seriously shook the ground and shelter. I blew up my pad and am planning on staying put. To my joy, three other thruhikers have arrived. And one of them has a kitten!  It was rescued from a truckstop and rides on top of a backpack during the day. It is very friendly and adorable. I've been watching her nap on Skrabbit. Every time the kitten falls asleep she slips off to the side. Skrabbit pushes her back to the middle periodically. So cute. The torrential rain guarantees water for the next couple of days. We are all happy about that. I'm not so happy about the possibility of hiking in the rain tomorrow, but I prefer that to dry springs. By far.
Date: 2010-07-13
From: William Penn shelter

To: Hertlein campsite 
Miles today: 9.7
Weather: light rain

7/13William Penn shelter to hertlein campsite9.7 milesTentThe kitten woke me up at five AM. I pushed her off my face, crying "kitten!" indignantly. The others chuckled. The scenario repeated itself periodically for the next two hours. Kitten cycled through the victims/playmates. Eventually I struggled to real wakefulness. It had stormed on and off all night, which made me very sleepy and inclined to stay in bed. But I finally got up, though no one else did. I walked on to the famous 501 shelter, which gets pizza delivery. To my own amazement I wasn't in the mood. I got water and ate food I was carrying. And then I moved on. As usual on these ridges, the miles seemed to go slowly. The very sameness of it all makes it feel like I'm walking in place. There are few landmarks and little variation in terrain. Though the walking is fairly easy, it's boring. I'm not a huge fan. I'm still happy to have level terrain to get back in shape with, though. I have little appetite but I'll force down some food before bed so I'll have energy tomorrow. I kind of miss the cooked food, but not the cooking!  When I get groceries next I'll have to hunt around for some variety to add to my food. My food hanging options for tonight are somewhere between slim and none. I'm not seeing any branches I could throw to. But I'll solve that problem after dinner. So far I'm camped alone. There is water here, and tentsites, so I hope some other hikers come along and are tempted to stay.  I'd like company. But on the other hand I'm planning an early night and an early morning, so company may be superfluous.