morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-06-21
From: Waynesboro

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

   This is a live update from my current location in the Waynesboro public library. It may be a bit out of order as my sister who is my journal transcriber is out of town for awhile so most of the updates will be a bit delayed.    I may have a bit of a problem on my hands as during the last week I've lost some weight using up almost all the fat reserves on my body. If this continues it could be big trouble as the body starts to metabolize muscle when it runs out of fat to use which will result in weakness and fatique. I'm already eating as much as I can so I'll just have to see if my digestive system will improve. Time will tell but if this current trend continues, I dought I'll last more than a few more weeks. Hiking that is. So far the whole thing has been fantastic and I really, really want to go all the way. So my plan is to just keep going, that is after I eat as much as I can here in town for a couple of days, until I can't where ever that may be. Hopefully the weight loss will stop as I know it can having walked last year 600 miles without losing a pound.    If there is a will there is a way and I have the will so I hope to find the way. Wish me luck.
Date: 2008-06-23
From: Waynesboro

To: Blackrock Shelter
Miles today: 20.0

My mind was spinning with doubt when I got back on the trail this morning. Two days of complete rest and eating as much as I could and then some did nothing to put any weight back on.So as I walked on this lovely summer day in the southern end of Shenandoah National Park I was discovering with full force just how important completing the hike is to me. If my weight loss continues I do have one card left to play. But it's an expensive card. It did, however, keep my hike going last year under much the same circumstances. I left the trail last year at Pearisburg for two weeks of recuperation at my favorite campground on St. John in U.S. Virgin Island National Park. The energy of the tropical ocean balances my immune system to such an extent that I was able to put back on about eight pounds in just twelve days. This year I went down there before my hike and I think that's why my Crohn's symptoms up to now have been milder, leaving me with better energy, than last year's hike. Up til now anyway.Just deciding that I can put this card in play to save the hike if I need to, has put my mind at ease. It ain't over til it's over, and who knows, maybe my weight will stabilize on its own.
Date: 2008-06-24
From: Blackrock Shelter

To: Flattop Mt.
Miles today: 18.0

The miles roll by easily on the well-grades trails of the Park. I did 20 yesterday and maybe will go on this evening all the way to Hightop Mt. The beautiful evening invites more walking Not much time to write as I'll be setting up camp at dusk.A campsite with a view and good ol' common sense got the better of me and I stopped at 6:30, just an eleven hour day and 18 miles.Good news! The last tow days I've actually seemed to gain weight! Go figure.
Date: 2008-06-25
From: Flattop Mt.

To: Hazeltop 
Miles today: 18.5

I'm happy my weight loss has stopped, for the moment anyway, it gives me confidence the journey will continue.Sometimes I think I'm starting to get the hang of this walking meditation practice. With last year's trek and this year's adding up to over 2,000 miles of it, there are times now that the boundaries of what is inside and what is outside of my self are dissolving. My thoughts, the bird song, the buzzing of the flies, the rhythm of my legs carrying me up the trial, the trial itself, all of it arising together like some impossible dream. And it's a very good dream. I bow to the white blazes. And I try to forgive the bugs for living up to their name.Ended the day with another campsite with a view on top of Hazeltop. Life is good.
Date: 2008-06-26
From: Hazeltop 

To: The Pinnacle
Miles today: 18.0

I'm feeling strong with my energy high, despite another poor night's sleep, and it's a great day with sunny skies and a cooling breeze to keep the bugs away. This is also my favorite section of trail in Shenandoah Park where I did my earliest backpack trip in my teen years. The last of the laurel is still blooming up above the 3,500 ft. level and there are many scenic overlooks along the way.I'm a little sad that these are the last of the real mountains before New England many hundreds of miles up the trail, but they will be the carrot on the stick dangling before this old donkey. It's always good to have some kind of carrot to keep you moving forward. There is a lot of psychology involved in long distance hiking. Sometimes the carrot is a complicated thing.I stopped for an afternoon break at another good view point though the smog is getting thicker. I decided to check for ticks and lo and behold I could feel and see a black speck at the limit of my vision on the belt line on my back at almost the exact area I was bitten last year. I never saw the tick but that was the location of the rash. These ticks seem to favor the belt line. Fortunately my one inch Swiss Army knife is equipped with tweezers and I was able to pull the tick out with some contortion. I have no idea how long it was there as it was only the size of a period on a page. What fun. But I'm still having a great day.I ended the day camped on a rocky outcrop with just barely enough room for my tent on top of the Pinnacle with a great view of Mary's Rock to the north and enough wind on the exposed rock to keep the bugs at bay. Now it's time to eat and watch the sun set over the Shenandoah valley. For an extra bit of entertainment, I also have three ravens soaring on the wind right out in front of me.
Date: 2008-06-27
From: The Pinnacle

To: Camp
Miles today: 18.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Hot smoggy, humid, and very buggy today with the black flies constantly on th attack. But I ended the day with another campsite with a great view of the northern end of the park. I also managed to get a good photo and video of an obliging bear. I'll run into the "closed post office on the weekend" problem at my next mail drop so I'll head to Front Royal tomorrow which is just three miles off the trail.There are five Turkey buzzards floating around in front of me but I'm still alive and kicking so they will have to look elsewhere.
Date: 2008-06-28
From: Camp

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: broken clouds

I had an interesting morning with an encounter with a rattlesnake which gave me fair warning with its rattle, and was kind enough not to bite me. When I heard that unmistakable buzz, I jumped backward immediately as the snake was just off the trail. It showed no sign of moving, so I got out my camera to take a picture and found it wasn't working after I had dropped it earlier in the morning.   Now the snake had picked a fine place to guard the trail as there were impenetrable briers on one side and poison ivy on the other. I tossed a couple of sticks at the snake to see if it would slither away, but it was having none of it, so I tip-toed through the poison ivy after leaving a warning note on the trail. I fixed my camera after trying everything else by lightly tapping it on a rock. Sometimes the most primitive solution is the best.I was having no luck hitch-hiking into Front Royal when a deputy pulled up and asked to see my license and called it in. Hitch hiking is legal in Virginia but after he checked me out he offered me a ride into town. I'm not leaving until I get ahold of my doctor and get the antibiotics for Lyme disease to carry with me as I found yet another deer tick biting me today. At least I'm getting good at finding these almost invisible ticks.
Date: 2008-07-01
From: Front Royal

To: Camp
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Walking out of Front Royal after two and a half days there, my legs felt stiff and leaden, as if I had just walked twenty miles. I don't seem to get much benefit from long periods in towns so from now on I'll continue to avoid them as I have in the past. I'm already feeling better now that I'm back in the woods. And I did get my Lyme disease antibiotics to carry along for just in case. It took all of yesterday to get that prescription filled, but I expected as much. So now on to Harper's Ferry. One good thing about the break, I did manage to put on another pound so my wight is back where it should be. And I'm closing in on that half way point!
Date: 2008-07-02
From: Dick's Dome Shelter

To: Sam Moore Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

A great night's sleep, a rare thing these days, helped me recover from the two zero days and I'm feeling a lot less stiff after an 18 mile day yesterday. Only 13 miles were trail miles as five were road walking out of Front Royal and into and out of Linden, my post office resupply. The trail today has had interesting variety with the serene mature Tulip Poplar forests, their long branchless trunks making a cathedral like effect, and dense jungle and even some open grassy meadows. A cool front has pushe dout the smog and haze and the air is fresh and sweet.My energy stayed on the low side today as the trail entered "The Roller Coaster", a section of the trail with a lot of short ups and downs. But I was very pleased with the amount of big old trees in the area.It's very quiet here at the Sam Moore Shelter as there is a hostel called Bear's Den just a few more miles up the trail that has sucked up all the hikers, leaving me with just the evening bird song and a babbling brook.
Date: 2008-07-03
From: Sam Moore Shelter

To: camsite
Miles today: 15.0

My enthusiasm for this hike this morning was at an all-time low due mostly, I think, to low energy and the fact that the trail has run out of mountains and now runs along low ridges and hills all the way to New England. I have a deep need to be immersed in wild places, which is why I live in Jackson Hole and also why I love the ocean so much. It's still totally wild despite the ships that float on its surface. But I walk through all these feeling of sadness and feel for the overused earth, and honour the trail that winds on northward regardless. The magical pull of the trail feels faint and broken to me here but I can still feel the pulse and again just put one foot in front of the other.On a deeper level, all this is wonderful stuff to work with in the context of mediation practice. There is still joy and peace to be found in every moment. So enough whining, I've got miles to walk. The day only got worse as doubt after doubt,some of them quite reasonable, eroded my faith in the hike. A hot day, a rugged, rocky trail, and mostly scrubby third growth forest to look at all conspired with my low energy to make it the worst day of the trip. Everything on thru hike is intense, that's why I like it, but I admit I found the intensity of my doubt very surprising. A stop at the Blackburn Trail Center and a solar shower, raised my spirits for awhile and I felt the faith return. Now I'm sitting in camp very tired and hoping tomorrow will be a better day.
Date: 2008-07-04
From: camsite

To: Ed Garvey Shelter
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: overcast clouds

The rain is pounding on the roof of the Ed Garvey Shelter and is keeping the weekend hikers at home as there are only four of us here. I was the 554th thru hiker to sign in at the Appalachian Trail Conference Center in Harper's Ferry. I'm now on my way through Maryland which only takes three days and am finally through with Virginia which took five weeks.Yesterday it felt like the captain was asleep in the wheelhouse and there was a devilish mutiny in the air. Today those buzzards of doubt were still circling around waiting to feast on the corpse of my ambition should it happen to die, but I accept their presence now as part of the scenery.Despite hiking in torrential rain this afternoon my depression has lifted and my energy is better. Talking to hikers today at the ATC I found out I wasn't the only one who found yesterday hard. It's almost as if there is some malevolent force on the trail in that area, part of which is even named "The Devil's Racecourse". Maybe it's a test that thru hikers must pass to proceed beyond Harper's Ferry with its easy access to D.C. airports. I got by that one at least, but who knows what's up ahead.
Date: 2008-07-05
From: Ed Garvey Shelter

To: campsite
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The mutiny has been quelled, the Captain is in control of the ship, and it's heading north to Maine. Now it's only a question of patching the leaks as fast as they spring up to keep the whole thing afloat.The rain stopped this morning after an enjoyable stay at the Ed Garvey Memorial shelter. It's a very classy shelter. One of the hikers there was an Asian man with short grey hair who didn't say much but smiled with his whole being. I think he maybe was a Bodhisattva, only a hiker in disguise.The thunder is rumbling all around my camp so I better put this away and crawl in my tent. Even though I was very tired this evening, things are looking up.
Date: 2008-07-06
From: campsite

To: Pennsylvania Border
Miles today: 18.0

The thing I liked most about Maryland was that it made me feel like I was making progress. I'm camped in a nice stream valley just north of the Pennsylvania border. Six states down and eight to go.My campsite came equipped with a fresh orange someone left behind a tree and "Medium Rare" is here who was five days ahead but took time off and just got back on the trail. Much better energy today, the best I've felt in over a week, but now my left Achilles tendon has started to get sore and I'm hoping it's not tendonitis. Time will tell. On the trail it's usually one challenge after another.
Date: 2008-07-07
From: Creek Camp

To: Rocky Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 14.5

Another humid hot day but I feel relieved to be in Pennsylvania. I think there was some burden, self imposed of course, in repeating last year's hike. But I'm very glad I did. I saw the "Three Canadians", again as they passed me. It's a mother and two daughter team from Calgary. Medium Rare, Downtown Venus, Beetle, Dawahey, all just a few hours ahead. As Well as Gonzo who just got back on the trail after a break. All these hikers are a little faster than me so they likely will stay ahead until they stop. It's the only way I catch up to people by being very steady.
Date: 2008-07-08
From: Rocky Mt. Shelter

To: Dead Woman Hollow
Miles today: 17.0

I met "Chipmonk" this morning who turns out to be the real monk on the trail, having been a Benedictine monk for seven years. He's a friendly, outgoing gy who is fun to talk to . Finally a sunny day, though still very humid, is without all the cloudy murk of the last several days. I'm having huge energy swings, feeling poorly this morning, very weak yesterday afternoon, and now all fired up and full of energy. It was good to see Rhododendrons still in bloom, but only in a few rare places this far north. There was not much else to see today, the trail as easy for the most part with numerous road crossings. Much of the oak forest has been shredded by the Gypsy Moths, which have now hatched and are fluttering around my camp. But I'm in excellent spirits this evening for no apparent reason and tomorrow morning I'll cross the half-way point. Yeah!There are some interesting names around here. I'm camped just above Dead Woman Hollow. Nearby we have Haunted Hollow, Devil Alex Hollow, Hairy Springs Hollow, and I'm sure Sleepy Hollow is arond here somewhere.
Date: 2008-07-09
From: Dead Woman Hollow

To: Whiskey Spring
Miles today: 21.0

I just had a refreshing swim in the lake at Pine Grove Furnace State Park which is just north of the half way point. "Y2K", a thru hiker so named because he is using food from a Y2K stockpile for his hike, just left to go to the store and do the "1/2 gallon challenge" where thru hikers attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream to celebrate the half way point. I wished him luck. I ended up doing a 21 mile day but am too tired tow write about it.
Date: 2008-07-10
From: Whiskey Spring

To: Route 11
Miles today: 14.0

Last night I discovered a rash on my foot that is definitely Lyme disease. This is almost exactly the same place on the trail where I got it last year. But this time I have the antibiotics with me but I still find it very demoralizing. I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall trying to hike this trail. My heart says to keep going until you can't but my mind says this is ridiculous. I've stopped in a motel on the way across the Cumberland Valley where no camping is allowed and will continue on to Duncannon. But after that, I don't know.
Date: 2008-07-11
From: Route 11

To: Cove Mt. Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: scattered clouds

If you come right down to it, hiking the Appalachian Trail really doesn't make any kind of sense, it's a journey of the heart and the spirit. I'm camped at the very spot that was my last campsite last year but this time I have no fever and felt pretty good today and am looking forward to all the trail I haven't yet hiked starting tomorrow in Duncannon. My heart says the journey is the right thing for me at this time and the spirit moves me forward. So on to Maine!Lots of thru hikers met on the trail today. Some of the names: Butterfly Moon and dog Leena, Barley, Fire Socks, Rain, The Weatherman, Two Miles, Pull Up, if I remembered them right. There were some more as well that I can't remember. Most have gone into Duncannon for the night. I'll follow them in tomorrow for resupply drop at the Doyle Hotel.
Date: 2008-07-12
From: Cove Mt shelter

To: Peter Mt shelter
Miles today: 0.0

   I hope this isn't too confusing as the updates I've sent to my sister from Duncannon arn't up yet so this is a skip ahead six days. I'm actually updating on the 18th so I'll have to give a synopsis of whats happened so these entries make sense.    On July 8th I think it was, I noticed a rash on my foot that was definately Lyme disease. I started taking the antibiotics for it that I was carrying with me. Things have not been going well since then. When the previous pages are up you will see how I felt about it. Now on to July 12th entry.    It's been a hot one coming onto the ridge out of Duncannon. The trail has been rocky and often choked with poison ivy, and the woods are very dense with thick, jungly underbrush. All in all hard going on this humid, hot, poluted day. I'm writing this on an evening break as I know I'll be too tired to write when I reach the next shelter. No hope of stopping short of there as this land is nothing but bony rocks. At least the bugs arn't bad today.   But it's great not to know what's around the next bend. It brings back some of the magic of the trail that I've been missing lately.
Date: 2008-07-13
From: Peter Mt shelter

To: Rauch gap shelter
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: broken clouds

   I'm having a rough day so far. My legs feel weak, energy is low, and thoughts of quiting the trail are like constant plaging flies in my brain. And the flies are totally logical and make a lot of sense.   Underneith all that is a warm inner glow, a steading influence that is the result of a thousand miles of walking meditation practice. But now that walk is happening in an ambiguous place of persistant conflict of heart and mind. So for now I walk north and just soak in it all. The best definition of Adventure that I know is: a journey whos outcome is uncertain. This certainly qualifies!
Date: 2008-07-14
From: Rauch gap shelter

To: campsite
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

   I'm breathing a little easier as the front that came through yesterday with thunderstorms and rain last night washed away the polution in the air and much of my depression as well. Me legs are still very weak and my energy is low but for the first time in a while I was enjoying the walk as the trail left the ridge top and entered some lush bottom land forest.    I had a very short but very powerfull dream last night. I was walking on the trail with a refreshing breeze blowing through me when suddenly I was off the trail with no possible way of getting back on. The feeling of regret and loss was profound.   I'm glad the air is fresh and clean today. It gives me hope.    On a lighter side, in a dream I had a while back, I was looking into a refrigerator that was stocked full with icecream, when a loud voice said "Get your ass back on the trail!" In another dream I was walking down a forest road when I notice something big and dark on the left side in the woods. As I approached it turned out to be a buffalo. When I was working my way warily past it, two mountain lions attacked from the right side of the road. I counter attacked and scared them off.
Date: 2008-07-18
From: Port Clinton

To: St John U.S. Virgin Islands
Miles today: 0.0

I have six more days of the antibiotics to do before I'm likely to be fit to hike again so I'm pulling my usual stunt when I need to heal up. Heading to Cinnamon Bay campground in U.S. Vigin Islands National Park. I'm still very unsure if I'll continue the hike or not at this stage. A part of me really wants to go on. It's a do or die kind of feeling, mixed with a sense of self betrayal if I don't give it at least one more try. And I also feel that I'm beytraying something else, something I can't quite put my finger on. But on the practical side, It means ending up with a lot more debt. Not to mention the continueing assaults on my health. I do have plenty of time as I'm actually farther ahead on the trail than I want to be to end the hike after the peak of fall colors in the New England woods. So at least taking a break works for me in that respect. All I can say today is stay tuned as I'm not officially off the trail yet!
Date: 2008-08-02
To: That's all she wrote
Miles today: 0.0

Thanks for all the support and for reading my journal. My health has not recovered sufficiently to continue hiking so the decision of whether to continue or not has been made for me. I have no regrets now as I know I gave it my best and then some. Some day I may hike the last half but my thru hiking career in over. Best of luck to those still out there! And to the class of 09.
Date: 2008-10-19
To: insanity?
Miles today: 0.0

There must be something wrong with my brain as lately, I've had the strange thought that I may just be crazy enough to attempt a third thru hike sometime in the future. Memories of the trail have been flooding my mind daily, and unfortunately have that odd nostalgic tinge that can lead one back onto the trail, completely forgetting how much real suffering is actually involved. Of course it will be years before I have the financial resources to try it again and hopefully by that time I will come to my senses. Or Not.
Date: 2006-04-20
To: Erwin views
Miles today: 0.0

I plan to hike the AT, northbound, beginning around March 2008. My boyfriend Marcus, aka Tree, and I are going to make it our honeymoon. For now, just plans and hopes! We're lucky enough to live close to the trail. We're both from Erwin, TN and now live just a short distance away - day hikes and short trips are super convenient and easy.
Date: 2007-01-29
To: Change jar
Miles today: 0.0

Tree and I have started an AT fund. It's a jar by the front door that we put all our change and spare dollars in. It's nearly half full! Hopefully we'll have a jar per month. I wish I was leaving this year. It's crazy to think that next year I'll be leaving my job, apartment, parents, friends - everything. I absolutely can't wait. For now it's the details to sort out....
Date: 2007-07-27
To: Grayson Highlands/Mt. Rogers
Miles today: 0.0

Tree and I went to Grayson Highlands and Mt. Rogers for a few days. We drove about an hour and a half, from Johnson City, TN to North of Damascus, VA and parked at Grayson Highlands state park and walked to the AT and made a loop back to our car. Good times, good times. Even over the course of 4-5 days, the hiking is easier day after day. I hope that's true next year! I loved the wild ponies- they were everywhere.