morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2003-03-09
To: Mental Attitude
Miles today: 0.0

"Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations." -- Ralph Charrell                  When we tell people about our plans to hike the AT, some laugh and tell us we're nuts (probably true), others express a wish that they could join us on our adventure (come on-the more the merrier!), and most ask me what my "bail-out" plans are. They are assuming that I won't be able to make the entire hike, and that I've considered options for quitting. The truth is, I do not see myself quitting. (I don't think anyone has asked Duane about his "bail-out" plans :D) It may turn out that a physical ailment (knee pain, blisters, giardia) will take me off the trail, but I'm way tougher than I look and I am mentally prepared to put up with a LOT of pain and discomfort to make this happen.Before I committed to hiking the AT I did my research, including reading the journals of female AT thru-hikers. I wanted to know up front what I could expect, and they gave me an accurate picture of life on the trail (thanks, Bluebearee!). I know that there will be days of cold, miserable, dreary weather, pointless ups and downs (PUDS), physical discomfort, and general frustration. BUT I CAN DO THIS! I am going to be way out of my comfort zone, but I want this more than I've wanted anything in a long time.Having just retired, I am at a crossroads in my life. I've always played it safe, done the proper, accepted and expected things, been the "good girl,", taken the path of least resistance. I don't want to spend my golden years wondering what my life would have been like "if only..." I want to go out there, do my "if onlys" and prove to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to, no matter how improbable! I will do whatever it takes to achieve this goal.
Date: 2003-03-13
To: Let's Dance!
Miles today: 0.0

¢I hope you never lose your sense of wonder.You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger. May you never take one single breath for granted, God forbid love ever leave you empty handed. I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean, Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens, Promise me that you¢ll give faith a fighting chance, And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance¢¦ I hope you dance. I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,Never settle for the path of least resistance.Livin¢ might mean takin¢ chances but they¢re worth takin¢,Lovin¢ might be a mistake but it¢s worth makin¢.Don¢t let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,When you come close to sellin¢ out reconsider.Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,Dance¢¦ I hope you dance.¢ -- Lyrics from ¢I Hope you Dance¢ (a Lee Ann Womack song by Mark D. Sanders, Tia Stillers)I have always loved the sentiments espoused in the lyrics of this song. Reading "Big Red's" (AT 2002) journal reminded me of it, and I've been thinking about it ever since. (Thanks, Big Red - great journal, terrific quotes!)I hope that this journey will reawaken my sense of wonder about the beauty of God's creation. I don't want to settle for the path of least resistance any more--I'm prepared to take chances, step out there and go for the gusto, reach for the stars, grab the brass ring, and shoot for the hat trick--I'm ready to dance! br>
Date: 2003-03-17
To: Rekindled Confidence
Miles today: 0.0

"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks." -AnonymousWe had planned to be out on a shakedown hike on the Ozarks Highland Trail this week, but events have conspired to keep us at home. A combination of medical problems--sniffles, a broken rib, the need for medical tests, a hastily scheduled surgery--have prevented us from hitting the trail, but we're still managing to get in a few day hikes. And there's still plenty of time for planning and dreaming...Yesterday we hiked the Pea Ridge Battlefield Park trail. Ordinarily nine challenging miles, parts were closed for controlled burns (naturally the most fun, challenging parts!), so we settled for six miles of relatively flat trail. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the company was the best, so no complaints! But when we got home, I was feeling a little down. The hike was much less strenuous than many we've taken in the past, but I was dog-tired and my feet hurt. What was up with this? Yes, I was carrying my full pack, but I've done that many times before. I was wearing my familiar Lowas, so why the complaining feet after six easy miles? I was riddled with concern that maybe I'm not really cut out to do the AT...Who am I tryin to kid?So I got up this morning and went back out for a solo hike on the same trail. I had to prove to myself that yesterday was a fluke, that I do have the "right stuff" for hiking the AT. From the minute I hit the trail, I felt strong and confident. I hit my zone and stayed there. No sweat (well, a little sweat, but you know what I mean). I remembered what it felt like to be in the groove...So yesterday was just an "off" day. I'll have those on the trail,too, and I just need to keep this lesson in mind.Aside from rekindling my confidence, the hike today paid huge dividends for me. Duane and I ALWAYS hike together, so it felt strange to be without my buddy. But the beauty and peace of my surroundings kept me company. I ate lunch watching seven eagles soaring overhead. They played together in the thermals, and I could hear their cries echoing across the valley. I came home newly energized, and more excited than ever about our AT trip. As the quote says, I got far more than I went out there seeking, and I am thankful.
Date: 2003-03-24
To: Climbing Mount Magazine
Miles today: 0.0

¢Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.¢-- Andrew JacksonOne aspect of our trail preparation that has been lacking was hiking on trails with significant elevation changes. We live in the foothills of the Ozarks, so we've had some climbs with nearly every practice hike we've taken, but they've all been gently graded and relatively short. I will admit that the Georgia mountains have me somewhat intimidated, so we decided to take the bull by the horns and tackle a good climb.At 2753 feet, Mount Magazine in western Arkansas is the highest point in the state. In fact, I read somewhere that it's the highest point between the Rockies and the Appalachians. Since it's just two hours from our home, we decided to give it a go. The grading averages eight degrees overall with nice switchbacks, but there were a few scrambles that were significantly steeper, so we got a good work out. The weather cooperated with us. It had rained hard on Tuesday night, so the trail was muddy in places--realistic training for the AT! The temperature was a mild 62* and the sky was partly cloudy. The climb was tough, but we made good time and felt strong throughout. The descent was fun and challenging, since the leaves were slick and the trail slippery. We took it slow and easy to minimize the trauma to our old joints! A light rain fell during the last half hour, and that was my favorite part. We didn't get very wet, and I loved listening to the rain falling on the dried leaves around me. It smelled heavenly. Just before we got back to our car, the rain stopped, and the birds and insects started to sing. I can't wait to get out on the trail and experience nature close-up, every day.We made this hike with light packs, and hope to return to climb it "fully loaded" later this week. Beautiful views from the top and some great camp sites are calling our names.
Date: 2003-04-10
To: Maildrops Are Ready
Miles today: 0.0

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." George Bernard Shaw Twenty-two boxes are loaded up and ready to go! With a sigh of relief, I now consider Team Bender "ready to go." Although we still have three weeks 'til we hit the trail, we COULD go tomorrow. It's a great feeling to be all set.I dehydrated lunches and dinners, bagged oatmeal and grits, prepped trail desserts, and made pounds and pounds of snack foods. I'm confident that we'll eat well enough (perhaps too well before our "trail appetites" kick in!); I just hope I can stand to eat all of the food I slaved over in the kitchen. I have to confess to being sick of fruit and nut bars without having eaten a single one! We should have enough variety in our diets, though, since we plan to buy about half of our meals in local shopping trips into trail towns. And our wonderful support person (my sister-in-law, Karen)is willing to swap out what we're tired of and replace it with what we crave as we go along. She didn't even flinch when I showed her the pile of boxes that she's going to ship to us. Brave girl, Karen! We're glad you pump iron in your spare time!We are trying to keep away from sending boxes to "general delivery" addresses because post office hours can be erratic in small towns, and we don't want to have to wait a day and a half for the P.O. to open again if we hit a maildrop town on a Saturday afternoon. Many of the hostels and inns that we plan to stay at very generously accept and hold maildrops for hikers. In other places, Social Security "friends" are helping us out by holding maildrops for us. It gives us a lot of flexibility that we wouldn't otherwise have. We hope these folks all know how much we appreciate them!So now we just have to wait. Of course, I've already thought of things I forgot to put in the maildrops, and I'm sure I'll come up with more. Fortunately, the boxes are not yet sealed up, so I'll probably just keep a list and do a last minute addition to each box just before I go out the door. After that, we'll just have to live without whatever it is we've forgotten...
Date: 2003-04-15
To: Depending on the Kindness of Strangers
Miles today: 0.0

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams'A Streetcar Named Desire In an earlier journal entry I explained the many ways that family, friends, and virtual strangers are helping us with our hike. The kindness of others is continuing, so I want to update you with new examples of the trail magic we are experiencing, even before hitting the trail!Some of you may know that Duane underwent surgery on 4/11 after several delays (that I now recognize as having been for the best). But we've been a little worried about whether he would recover in time to start our hike on May 1st. We are reluctant to push our start date back any further, but, even though Duane's doctor said it's okay for him to plan on going then, we just weren't sure he'd be up to the rigors of hiking that soon. As we get older, the ol' bod seems to need more time to recover, and a thru-hike isn't easy under the best of circumstances!But the hiking community has come through for us once again. I posted a question on my Women Hikers Yahoo group about finding shuttlers who could help "slackpack" us for a few days. Slackpacking is when someone provides transportation for overnight equipment, allowing hikers to walk without a heavy pack. I promptly got a response from Bette (trail name "Swallowtail", from Alabama) offering to help us out. She's driving up from AL, meeting us in Atlanta, shuttling us to Springer Mtn, and shadowing us in her van with our packs for the first few days. (There is a dirt road that crisscrosses the AT for the first thirty miles or so.) Isn't that the most amazing bit of kindness imaginable?This break from Swallowtail will give Duane some time to regain his stamina--and an added bonus is that she'll slackpack me, too! We would lobby for wings for this trail angel, but she's long since earned them helping others! Swallowtail isn't the only one who has offered us help, she was just one of the first and most enthusiastic. AT Hummingbird and her husband, Dutch Treat, have also offered to help us out, as have Lonnie and Nancy from Clayton. The Rev. Susan from NH has offered to open her house to us. Evie from NY is accepting a mail drop for us. Other couples have offered to buy us a meal. And the list goes on. We are continuously amazed by the friendliness of the hiking community, and by their generous spirit. They really are a special group of people, and we are excited about getting to know as many of them as we can while we are on the trail.Two weeks and counting...
Date: 2003-04-16
To: Trail Lingo
Miles today: 0.0

"Life is our dictionary." Ralph Waldo Emerson In preparing yesterday¢s journal entry, I realized that I was probably using some terminology that would be foreign to those who are not long distance hikers. I plan to remedy this situation, so if you¢re a hiker, you may want to skip this entry. So, here it goes:A.T.                        The Appalachian Trail, runs from Mt. Katahdin in Maine to Springer Mountain, GAA.Y.C.E                All You Can Eat restaurants¢very popular with hungry hikers!Bald                        A grassy meadow at the top of a mountainBear-bagging        Hanging food, trash, and other ¢good smelling¢ things from a tree limb to protect it from bears. It has to be hung fifteen feet from the ground, six feet from the tree trunk. It¢s also known as a ¢bear pi±ata.¢ Some shelters on the trail offer poles or cables to use instead of trees.Bear Bait        The slowest hiker of the groupBlazes        A method of marking a trail using a 2¢ by 6¢ paint mark on trees, rocks, or cairns. AT blazes are white and mark the official trail. Blue blazes mark side trails along the AT that lead to shelters, campsites, water sources, points of interest, or alternate routes for hazardous weather or flooding. A hiker who skips part of the official AT by taking side trails (in other than hazardous conditions) is called a "blue-blazer". Yellow blazes are the stripes on a road--a hiker who "yellow blazes" skips part of the trail by hitchhiking around it without intending to go back and make up the skipped stretch. A red blaze is a "blood trail" left by an injured hiker. Bounce Box        A box that hikers mail to themselves to post offices along the trail. The box contains repair kits, replacement equipment, refills for consumables. The box can be ¢bounced¢ from one town to the next up the trail.Cairn        A man-made pile of stones used above tree line to mark the trail. Blazes are painted on them.Cameling-up        The practice of drinking all of the water you can hold at a water source so that you don¢t have to carry as much with you.Cat Hole        A 6-8¢ deep hole dug by a hiker, used for burying human waste, used when no privy is available.Eau d¢ Hiker        You¢ll know it if you smell it¢caused by hiking for days without the benefit of a daily shower/Laundromat.Face Plant        What you do when you fall face-first. The opposite is ¢turtling¢ ¢ defined in a later entry.Hiker Box        A box or container that holds cast-off hiker food or gear. Hikers leave what they don¢t want and take what they need. (After thirty straight breakfasts of oatmeal, guess what¢s in the boxes?)To be continued¢¦
Date: 2003-04-18
To: Trail Lingo, part 2
Miles today: 0.0

"Incomprehensible jargon is the hallmark of a profession." Kingman Brewster, former US Ambassador to Britain More trail terms:Maildrop        Food and supplies sent to and held by a post office or hostel near the trail. Mouse-hangers        an empty can or can lid with a string through it, hung from the ceiling of a shelter. Theoretically these keep the mice from getting to food bags hung below the can, but in practice it doesn¢t always work. They are also referred to as ¢mouse trapezes.¢MUDs        Mindless Ups and Downs (climbing numbs the brain)NOBO        Northbound; northbound hikers are NOBOs or NOBOers ¢ southbounders are referred to as SOBOs.Notch        northern term that means the same thing as Gap in the south and Pass in the central states¢a low area between mountains.PUDs        Pointless Ups and Downs (several PUDs together are MUDs).Register         Also known as the ¢shelter register¢ is a notebook found at each shelter where hikers leave messages for each other, or record comments about the shelter and/or nearby sections of the trail. Section hiker        A hiker who is hiking the entire trail in sections, over a period of several yearsShelter        Usually three-sided, constructed of wood or stone. Also know as lean-tos in the north. Generally located near a water source. Inhabited by mice, unless there is a snake in residence.Shuttle        A ride between town and trail, or between trail and town. Greatly appreciated by hikers, who do not want to walk any miles that aren¢t part of the AT. As if 2,173 miles isn¢t far enough!Slackpack        Hiking without a pack, or with a lightened pack, while said pack is transported ahead for pickup later.Switchback        A zig-zag trail that reduces the grade of the trail and helps control erosion.Thru-hiker        A person who is hiking from Georgia to Maine or Maine to Georgia during one hiking season. Those attempting to complete a thru-hike also identify themselves as thru-hikers.Trail Angel        Anyone who offers help, such as food, drink, shuttles, etc. to hikers. The help they provide is known as ¢trail magic.¢Trail name        A nickname by which a hiker is known to other hikers. This can be self-assigned, or earned by a notorious or humorous incident on the trail.Turtling        The act of falling on your back while wearing a pack, and the subsequent flailing attempt to right yourself.Web-walking        The first hiker on a section of trail in the morning has the ¢honor¢ of clearing spider webs as he walks. You just hope he¢s taller than you are!Yogi-ing        The art of non-verbally communicating that you would like to have someone offer you food, drink, or a ride. Anything, including staring hungrily, drooling, and limping is fair, but actually asking is not allowed.Zombi-zone        The body is hiking, but the mind is elsewhere.
Date: 2003-04-26
To: Boots on the Trail Soon
Miles today: 0.0

"If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all." --William F. Buckley, Jr.We hit the trail on Thursday, May 1st, but I'm switching over to "currently hiking" tonight after this posting. I leave here day after tomorrow to drive out to Georgia with our packs. Hoover will fly down to join me in Atlanta on Wednesday.After months of preparations, the time to execute our plans is rapidly approaching. We hope we've thought of everything, but we know full well we haven't. I've read that experience is the name we give to our mistakes. I'm sure we'll make lots of them, and will learn as we go along! It's probably for the best that we don't know all of the difficulties we'll face--we'll just have to deal with them one at a time as they pop up. Keep posted--the adventure is just beginning!
Date: 2003-04-29
To: On the Road to Georgia
Miles today: 0.0

"The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience." -- Daniel J. BoorstinI left Arkansas early Monday and made it to the outskirts of Knoxville that day. I passed through Paris, Milan (pronounced My'lan), Palestine. Lebanon, and Cuba Landing, all in one day! I also saw Toad Suck, AR and Bucksnort, TN (which I originally thought was "Bucksnot"--I giggled for two days over that one until I found out I'd misread the sign!). Since I only had a couple of hours driving on Tuesday to reach my goal of Johnson City, TN I had lots of free time, so I got to play...I drove to Hot Springs, NC in search of the Smith Family. Diane is a retired SSA employee who is hiking with her hubby and their recent-college-graduate daughter. I thought I could find them in Hot Springs, but they'd either moved on or just weren't "home" when I got there.I stopped by the post office while I was in in Hot Springs and ran into "Bumpkin" there. I know her from the Yahoo Women's Hikers group, and have been reading her journal, so I was excited to see a familiar face!!! We had lunch together at the Paddlers Pub along with Footslogger, Rumbles, Jersey, and Prozac. When I left Hot Springs I did some "trail angeling." I bought some cold drinks, apples, cookies and such, and went in search of places where the AT crossed a road. Every time I found a spot, I'd jump out of the car, scurry up the trail a bit, and leave a deposit of a few goodies for hikers to find. It was fun imagining them discovering the "trail magic," even though I didn't witness anyone finding a cache.After I had distributed the goodies I drove on to Erwin and visitied Miss Janet's Hostel. I met a few more hikers (Walkabout, Tank, Slaughter, Cuba, Amanda and some others I can't recall) and drove some of them around town to save their tired feet. Now I am headed to Johnson City, TN where I will be staying the night. So many people are acting as "trail angels" for us on our hike, that it was great fun to do a little bit of it myself!
Date: 2003-04-30
To: Ready to Hike Tomorrow
Miles today: 0.0

"The real meaning of travel...is the discovery of oneself through contact with other people." -- Paul TornierGreeting from Georgia! I am on my way to Atlanta and stopped by Clayton, GA to visit with Nancy. She and hubby Lon are helping support our hike and have been terrific "internet friends". We had lunch and got to know each other in person--kind of weird meeting her because we already know so much about each other that I feel like I've known her for a long time. I dropped off our "bounce box" and a resupply with Nancy, as we should be to Dicks Creek Gap near their home in about a week.I've only been on the road for 2/ 1/2 days and I've already met so many nice, nice people! Nancy, of course, and last night I stayed with Dan and Judy in Johnson City, TN. They treated me to a steak and a couple of beers, and I got to meet daughter Anna and friend Justin, as well as their golden retrievers Honey Bear, Tyrone, and J-Lo (I needed a puppy-fix because I'm already missing Kirby). They made me feel right at home, and even took me on a litle hike in their neighborhood. I've heard many times that the experience of hiking the AT is enhanced by the wonderful people you meet, and I am a believer! Thanks to Dan & Judy and Lon & Nancy for getting our hike off to a great start. You have all earned your trail angel wings! We look forward to seeing all of you again soon...Tomorrow is the big day. Stay tuned in 4-6 days for an update from the trail!