morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2014-08-05
From: Franconia Notch, NH

To: Grafton Notch Maine
Miles today: 106.1

White Mountains, SLAIN!!! Southern Maine is falling by the wayside! "Only" 266 more miles to go. NH and ME are awesome and very tough! Yet I still did over hundred miles in eight days. If you can slack pack starting in the Whites with Mahoosuc Mountain and the Kinsmen peaks do it. Hiking above tree line for over two days straight was an experience around Mount Washington. Webster Cliffs were my favorite part of the Whites. Going up the Wildcat Mountain was brutal from the base of Mount Washington. I hiked 14.1 of the longest miles to Imp Shelter ever. I slept like a log that night (like most nights come to think of it) Now I'm in southern Maine and I just got done tackling the two toughest days of the trail in a row. Going over the Goose Eye Mountains and then the next day going through the Mahoosuc Notch and climbing up Mahoosuc Arm and then Speck Mountain were tough, but fun. 9.7 and 9.6 miles respectively. I still did them better than 1 mph, but you really can't go any further than that and still be functional. (At least not this 60 year old)I saw a cow moose in Gentian Pond my first night in Maine. It really looks like I will get done in about three weeks. Let's hope the weather stays cooperative like it has been lately.Beth got us a little cabin/cottage for a couple of days. Glad to have it after spending four days and 54 of the toughest miles in a row I've done on the trail.(Pinkham Notch, NH to Grafton Notch, ME)Thanks for checking in on us. What a journey this has been. Cheers, J5/John and Dragon Lady/Beth
Date: 2014-08-19
From: Grafton Notch Maine

To: Greenville, Maine
Miles today: 182.5
Weather: broken clouds

2100 Miles!!! I'm a single digit midget in hiking days left. There are only 84.7 more miles to the top of Katahdin Mountain, ME. Southern Maine has been brutal, but it is almost done. I'm into my first 30 miles of the 100 mile wilderness. After Thursday all the major climbing but Katahdin will be left. I should be up and down by Monday 25 August.There are more photos we have to upload that are in between the White Mountains and Monson Maine shots we forgot to put on. We were lucky enough to stay with one of Beth's rescue connections (Liz and George) for two days in Rangeley, Maine. They have a beautiful place on Rangeley Lake. We had a wonderful time. One of the base camps Beth set up was at Henderson's Sports Camp at Pierce Pond Maine. We had a neat little log cabin with a wood burning stove in it. We used it, as this has been the coolest summer we have ever experienced. Tim is the owner and is a great cook. His breakfast's for hikers is fantastic. His pancakes are the best I've ever had, loaded with fruit. His dinners are just as tasty and plentiful. Strongly recommend staying here if you have the chance.The first 60 miles of the 100 Miles Wilderness are pretty tough. So I have split it up into four 15 mile days and two 20 mile days to get through it. Once this is done it's onto Katahdin. I'm pretty siked. Beth and I are ready to finish. We've had a great time, but I'm really tired and ready to start something different, like watch college football and sitting on my butt for awhile. Sort of like a "normal" person. The next time you read this, hopefully I will have completed the journey! Thanks for staying in touch. Cheers, J5 and Dragon Lady
Date: 2014-08-23
From: Greenville, Maine

To: Abel Pond, Maine
Miles today: 69.6
Weather: overcast clouds

100 Mile Wilderness conquered!! If you want to taste a little bit of the Appalachian Trail, but don't have time to do the whole thing, just do these 100 miles. They will test you and give you a feel for the challenges the entire trail presents. I was happy to get through this section in five and half days. I was very lucky that there was no rain during my entire 100 miles, which helped tremendously with the MUD!!! I can only imagine how tough it must have been for my fellow hikers when there was rain. The trail conditions were tough enough from the previous rains we had. There is just no where for the water to go and run off to. Roots, rocks, water and mud, that is what you can expect here.Tomorrow I will hike my last 10 miles to the base of Katahdin and then go up the mountain on Monday, 25 August. The weather report is good for both days, so I'm very excited to get the job done. That should be day 160 or 23 weeks.This trip has been exciting, challenging, rewarding and very hard. I'm looking forward to Navy Football and the rest of the college football season. Will let everyone know that I have actually completed the AT as soon as we can.Cheers everyone from J5 and Dragon Lady
Date: 2014-08-25
To: Baxter State Park
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: broken clouds

Mission accomplished! Wonderful two days getting towards and up Katahdin Mountain and Baxter Peak. Blessed to have had 8 straight days of no rain. Almost unheard of up here, I'm told. The views were magnificent. Katahdin is a tough mountain to climb, but it was fun. There were nearly two miles of bouldering/scrambling to do. The Knifes Edges were challenging. If you're afraid of heights don't attempt this. LOLIt's hard to believe my hike is over. It was long, tough, exciting and it hurt! Glad I did it. We celebrated with friends in Millinocket with sirloin and lobster!! COULD not have DONE it without the help and full support of my wife Dragon Lady. Beth was fantastic! Now it's time to wander around northern New England before we head to Rhode Island and visit with my oldest sister over Labor Day weekend. Should be home by Wednesday 3 September. West Virginia is calling us to take us home. Time for "real" food again.Thank you all for visiting our journal and encouraging us along. It has been wonderful reading your comments. We both hope you have as much fun and pleasure doing your hike as we did doing ours. May the sun shine in your face and the wind be at your back. I dedicated my climb up to Katahdin to my classmates from Annapolis Class of 77 who have died way too early. Here are their names:Peter Ayotte, Steve Barnett, Domitito Baysic, Bob Bender, Tony Bilotti, Jim Boyle, Herb Bracewell, Michael F. Brown, Michael W. Brown, Dave Burdine, Steve Burley, Pete Cameron, Paul Cappelino, Ed Cardin, Pat Conroy, Gerry Cook, Hugh Cornett, Stu Elwing, Steve Eshman, Federrico Favila, Jim Festa, Irby Fogelman, Dennis Franich, Jose Galvin, Rich Galvin, Steve Garcia, Frank Greco, Terry Hopkins, John Karels, Ed King, Kerry Knoizen, Steve Lassard, Brad Lewis, Aaron Long, Gene McCarthy, Richard McNeil, Mike Masser, Mike Ohler, Pete Olsen, Bill Readman, Chris Ryan, George Sarrell, Steve Scott, John Smith, Bill Stuver, Jim Surch, Andy Tamayo, and Jim Watkins.Now college men from sea to sea may sing of colors true,But who has better right than we to hoist a symbol hue?For Sailor Men in battle fare since fighting days of oldhave proved the sailors right to wear the Navy Blue and Gold!Rest easy boys the brotherhood has not forgotten you.
Date: 2014-08-28
To: Homeward Bound
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Jane, Wence, AZ, Amy, Navigator, Christina and James,Many thanks for your support and positive comments. It was a pleasure meeting those of you I did on the trail, Wence and AZ. Amy, Christina, James and Jane, I really appreciated your thoughts on this journal. Glad some of what I have done, written or said resonated with you. At least now I can say I know what I did in 2014. Go Navy, Beat Ohio State! J5/Johnny V
Date: 2013-12-29
To: Start date will soon be here!
Miles today: 0.0

Twenty three more working days and I will be officially retired. I'm not sure when that will really sink in, because most of my spare time lately has been spent researching my upcoming quest. I planned to do the hike in 2015 but this fall I decided to retire a year early. That has shortened the time that I have to plan a trip of a lifetime. I will be heading to Georgia in about three months for an April 1st start. I have thought about this amazing hike for years now and the moment of truth is just days away! A thru hike of almost 2200 miles will test me physically and mentally. I don't anticipate the trek to be an overwhelming physical challenge but it will be mentally tough for me to be away from home for 4-6 months. But with great challenges come great rewards. Section hiking is not the way I want to hike the AT anyway, how would you choose which parts to hike first? I will probably want to come back in later years and do the parts that I enjoyed the most. Good luck to the 2014 group of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers. I hope to meet a lot of you somewhere on the trail.
Date: 2014-01-01
To: New Year Indeed!
Miles today: 0.0

A Happy New Year to all! 2014 will certainly be a new year for me with lots of changes, I am retiring in February, after working for the past 40 some years. In the movie The Shawshank Redemption the cons talked about inmates becoming institutionalized. After spending so many years in prison they can't deal with being put back into the real world after being paroled. I think that working in one place so long can cause similar anxiety. Your career path has also controlled a lot of your time off the clock. I'm too tired to go do that or I can't do that because I have to go to work tomorrow. Now my routine is about to change. Every minute of my time is under my control. I no longer have to plan my life around my job. Every day is like a holiday weekend, but what will I do with my new found freedom?I think that I have found the perfect solution. Why not start a hike of the Appalachian Trail in April that will take four to six months to complete. Can someone with no backpacking experience pull off a 2200 mile trek? The answer is a resounding maybe! It doesn't matter that every day will be in a different place or that I won't be going to the kitchen for something to eat or drink. My daily life will be anything but routine. No matter how strange that this might seem to most people it is something that I have thought about during most of my time in the Big House. No not Shawshank Prison, but the U.S. Post Office. The main character in the movie, Andy Dufrane was able to adjust to life after prison, because he had a plan for his life after his escape. I have planned my escape by hiking through fourteen states, not crawling through a sewer pipe. Andy's got nothing on me there, my escape will be my life for a few months and I will have plenty of time on the trail to plan the rest of my life.
Date: 2014-01-02
To: What Was I Thinking!
Miles today: 0.0

I just spent the entire day either shoveling snow or carrying mail with temps in the mid-teens. From six o'clock this morning to six o'clock this evening my brain kept telling me- You should of retired at the end of the year instead of changing your mind and working through January! My wife and I could have been lying on a beach in Florida worrying about things like sunburn and how many shrimps to throw on the bar-b! The reality is that we don't always make the best decisions in life and now the forecast is calling for more snow this weekend and some of the coldest temperatures we have had for a few years. And then my thoughts wander back to why I decided to work in January. I need to stay in shape this winter, not sit on the beach watching the waves come in. I need to be thinking of ways to cut my pack weight not lying around and putting on weight. How is sunny weather on the beach going to prepare you for the Georgia and North Carolina mountains in April? I need to be walking in the cold and snow so I can be prepared for anything that Mother Nature throws at me on the trail. And that my friends is how the mind works for someone planning a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. These thoughts might sound a little absurd to most people, but my friends know that this is how I plan for big events like vacations. They don't call me Clark Griswold for nothing.In retirement I really need to learn to simplify things.Take the challenges as they come, not try to solve problems before they appear. That sounds like a really good idea to work on tomorrow, right now I need to think of a way to get the kitchen sink to fit in my backpack.
Date: 2014-01-05
To: Trail Magic on the Mail Route
Miles today: 0.0

I have read a couple of books from people that have actually hiked the AT and I have also read lots of Trail Journal entries this winter. I wanted to learn about other hikers experiences and trail tested gear to improve my chances of completing a thru hike. What started out as a fact finding mission has surprisingly became my entertainment the past few weeks. Better than reality TV,this isn't put on for the cameras, the personal posts and pictures have been inspiring and amazing. One intriguing part of the posts are when hikers talk about trail magic. Trail Angels, as they are called, randomly set up on parts of the trail and leave food and/or drinks for thru hikers. Sometimes the magic is left anonymously and sometimes the angels are there to visit and encourage hikers. Some Trail Angels are former thru hikers that want to return magic to the trail because it helped them during tough parts of their hike. The other day on my mail route one of my customers met me at the door with a bag of home made goodies. Chocolate, peanut, and peanut butter clusters can make anyone's tough day go a little smoother. I realized then that I have been receiving trail magic on my mail route for the past 27 years and didn't even know it. A lot of the time the snacks and/or drinks are handed out when the weather is hot or bone chilling cold. I think my customers were showing that they were thinking of me during difficult times and they appreciated my efforts to deliver their mail. No matter how many times I have received these acts of kindness, they have always been greatly appreciated. The point of this article is that Trail Magic, or any random acts of kindness, should be experienced and passed on by everybody. Thank you Trail Angels of Villa Grove and Georgetown Illinois, I hope that I can find ways to keep this tradition alive and well in my retirement years.
Date: 2014-01-08
To: On the Job Training
Miles today: 0.0

One of the benefits of my job is that I get plenty of healthy exercise. Getting paid to walk 12 miles a day can help motivate a person to stay in pretty good shape. Hopefully, I can find ways to stay active in my retirement, hiking the AT will only keep me busy for a few months. I have talked to several people about my trek that think it would be an incredible thing to do but don't think that they could handle the physical challenges. I try to explain to them that they can start slowly and let the trail whip them into shape. You should be doing some walking beforehand, but if you are strong mentally and really want to try a hike than do it. Like they say on the AT, hike your own hike. Even if you only manage to hike a portion of the trail you will still have an experience of a lifetime. As a mailman, I felt that I had been training for this journey for 27 years. I could handle the walking, tolerate all types of weather, bugs and snakes don't bother me, and my back is used to lugging a little extra weight. I learned this week that we are never completely prepared for lifes challenges. After the recent snowstorm, I had a four day layoff from walking. This was due to my weekend off followed by a massive storm that prevented mail from getting to our Post Office for two days. I did get plenty of upper body exercise from shoveling the 12 inch snowfall that we received over the weekend, but I was anxious to get back to walking the route. Remember the old saying, careful what you wish for? Walking and delivering mail in the deep snow today wore this old man out. Now my shoulders, arms, legs and feet are giving me a little reminder that I shouldn't underestimate the challenges of the trail. Lesson learned!
Date: 2014-01-13
To: Trail Terms
Miles today: 0.0

I have read lots of journal entries from former hikers and I feel that I have acquired a pretty good understanding of common trail terms. My twenty seven years of carrying mail probably helped me grasp these so quickly. Here's a list of the terms I have learned so far.Bald - Result of working multiple years at the Post OfficeAYCE - All you can endure - you know it's time to retireBounce Box - package that stands up to lots of abuseMail Drop - See Bounce BoxCairn - someone who takes his job too seriouslyCat Hole - Slippery spot in yard of cat ownersBushwack - result of fingering mail while walking to next house and forgetting about large shrubs in yardGorp - Get out retirement planHYOH - Head yourself on home - what you do at end of dayLNT - Leave no trash - only delivering first class mailSOBO - where snow birds go in winterNOBO - where snowbirds go in springThru-hiker - Someone that moves from house to house and never leaves a change of address Puds - Pointless up and down steps to deliver junk mail that nobody wantsNero - light day when you hand off most of your routeZero - calling in sickSlackpacking - delivering mail minus your mailbag because nobody gets any mail any moreTrail Angel - Someone that leaves snacks or drinks near mailboxTrail Magic - Snacks or drinks offered by customersTrailname - Names yelled at mailman by customers when check didn't show up in mailbox,aren't printable here and usually aren't followed by trail magic White Blazing - Plowing through snow in yards after a winter stormBlue Blazing - Wading across flooded streets and yards after large rainfall usually follows a long day of walking in rainYogiing - Getting someone to offer to carry part of your route without asking for helpYoYoing - Starting in the middle of a relay because of a large package to drop off,going one way- then back to truck, going other way- then back to truckFlip flopper - Someone that changes his story each time he explains why he needs to pick up his check earlyWhite Mountains - Old piles of dog poo - usually in path of mail routeGreen Mtns. - Plush green grass where last years dog poo was depositedSpringer Fever - Mailman gets this at the end of long winter or long career!
Date: 2014-01-21
To: Who
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I started reading Trail Journals because I wanted to learn from other AT hikers and also find out what kind of gear they used. What started out as a research project soon replaced television as my evening entertainment. I felt like I was actually out on the trail as I absorbed their daily posts and pictures. I could almost see and hear the sounds from the trail as they journeyed northward. I made the decision to keep a journal because some of my friends and relatives were asking me to keep them posted on my hike. A journal just might make them feel more like they are hiking along with me. Besides, this seemed like a better way to keep them up to date than trying to make phone calls or sending text messages. They would even see the same things that I saw from my pictures, not post cards that I bought at WalMart. What I hadn't planned on was that people I didn't even know would be following my journals. I am OK with that I just didn't expect it. If they can get some enjoyment from my experience this year then I look at that as a positive thing. I will try and make my journal entries different and entertaining. My friends and family will not be surprised to hear that, they have come to expect that from me. For those people that don't know me here is a quick bio of the Mailman. I grew up in a family of 10 kids. I am happily married to my wife Paige, almost 38 years now. We have three children, Jarrod, Meghan, and Carson, they are each happily married and have kids of their own. We have 5 grandchildren and each one is a joy to be around. I am retiring from the Post Office in 10 days and looking forward to the golden years. But, before I settle in to that rocking chair my wife and I have a bucket list to take care of. This AT through hike has to be taken care of first because it will be a long physical challenge and now is the best time to cross it off my list. After I finish Paige and I can work on the others together, all of the National Parks, British Isles, Northern Lights, and many more. See you on the Trail----------Journal.
Date: 2014-01-24
To: What
Miles today: 0.0

In my previous journal entry I shared a little info about the mailman. I didn't spend a lot of time writing about myself because I don't want this journal to be about me. Instead, I want it to be about the journey itself. I think the idea of a long hike fascinates a lot of people, but for various reasons they will never experience it themselves. Hopefully, through my journal I can make people feel like they are out there hiking it with me. So WHAT is this hike all about? I am wanting to complete a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail. The AT is one of the best known hiking trails in the world. Two to three million people visit the trail every year, usually for short hikes. About 1800 - 2000 attempt a through hike of the entire trail that has to be completed in one year, but only about one fourth of them are successful. It runs through fourteen states and northbound hikers start in Georgia and end in Maine. The trail is marked by white blazes about every quarter mile and has about 250 three-sided shelters on the trail for hikers. The mileage varies a little bit year to year but is around 2200 miles long. This would not count any side trails for water, scenic overlooks,or hikes into trail towns for supplies or a much needed hot shower. The hikers start out as complete strangers but become a nomadic family and know each other by quaint trail names. The trail follows the Appalachian mountains and goes through the Green and White mountain ranges in New England. The total elevation gain of hiking the AT is equivalent to hiking up Mt Everest 16 times. These are some of the general facts about the AT. I will try and give you a better understanding of daily life on the trail in my journal. I hope that you will enjoy the reading as much as I will enjoy the hiking.
Date: 2014-01-26
To: When
Miles today: 0.0

Since I have a couple of months before my hike begins I am sharing some thoughts and info on the Appalachian Trail. This will allow friends and family that I don't see on a regular basis to learn more about the trip through my trail journal entries. I gave out some general facts about the trail in my last entry so people would know what exactly the Appalachian Trail is and now I would like to write about WHEN this will happen. First of all, when is a good time to take off, leave your family and head out on the trail for 5-6 months? Probably never. It takes a really strong desire to want to do this sort of thing, to leave everyone behind. In the kids movie Tangled you find out that even thugs have dreams, but they all have different dreams. This dream is my retirement present to myself whether that sounds selfish or not. I would feel better about it if I could take all of my family members on this trip of a lifetime. But,they have family, work,and school obligations telling them they can't go, just as I have had for the past 40 years. Besides, I hope that they have better, bigger dreams than me and this will help them attain them. For now they will have to experience the trip through me and hopefully some of them can join me for short hikes this year as I push on to Maine. All I know is that now is the best time for me to do this, I'm not getting any younger. Either scratch this darn itch or just forget about it and wonder later in life why I didn't pursue something that I have spent countless hours thinking about. It may sound overly dramatic to some but you could call it my quest. I think that the benefits of this hike will make up for the time lost from family, possibly even making me a better husband, father, and Papa. Even if I don't find the Dalai Lama on one of the mountain peaks I think that I will come back a better person because of the experience. While I was grabbing a Kleenex I realized that I almost forgot to mention WHEN I intend to begin this hike. Right now the starting date is March 31st, 2014 and I hope to summit Mt. Katahdin sometime in September of this year. Live your dreams!