morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-05-01
From: Home

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Foot is okay for hiking so I will be heading back to Virginia on Saturday with Bull, Pam and my dog Tug. Back to hiking on Sunday using Jerry and Carol's home as a base for a few days. Plan is to hike a few days and then Pam will head home with the dog on Thursday. Bull and I will continue our adventure on the trail and see what comes of it. lata Southside.
Date: 2008-05-04
From: Hamilton, VA

To: Little Hog Back Mountain
Miles today: 32.0

After about a 2 hour ride back to Big Meadows, I slacked packed today alone while Bull,Pam and Tug did a 7.4 mile hike in the Shenandoah National Park. Started out at Big Meadows and hit the trail hard at about 7:30 leaving my partners behind. I went too hard too quick and hit a wall after about 15 miles. I ate both of my sandwiches before noon and that still didn't get me moving. I think the four day lay off was the problem. I definitely need to build back some endurance. If anyone tells you that Virginia is an easy part of the hike do not listen...The trails in the Shenandoahs is beautiful and groomed but the hike is rolling and there are a lot of ups and downs that seem to go on forever. There is a lot of history here though and I have learned a lot about the Civil War. The weather was great; bright, sunny day a little warmer than I like for hiking. Bull and Pam picked me up on Skyline Drive at about 4:00 and we returned to Jerry and Carol's.Bull and Pam had a great day hiking doing 7.4 miles with Tug. Part of the loop was on the AT so Bull actually got some AT miles in. As part of the hike they stopped at Rapidam which was Hoovers retreat when he was President. The area is beautiful and the 3 buildings left of the 13 original are in great shape. It appeared to them as if the park service is doing some rehab there so for those that follow, check it out. Tug did great with his saddlebags and only had to be prodded a couple of times to keep moving. When he is hot, he just stops which is too funny.Bull ran into Squire at the lodge in the morning. He seemed out of sorts and said that he just couldn't get into the southbound hike. Later in the day Pam and Bull ran into some other people that told them Squire was looking for Bull and that he was contemplating flipping and going back north. Squire did end up changing course and hitched into Front Royal. After picking me up Bull drove into Front Royal and out of the KFC comes Squire! I had no clue that I had missed him by about 30 minutes at the lodge and what had transpired during the day. It was great to see him. So, I gave Jerry and Carol a call and we brought him back to their house for the night. We cooked dinner while waiting for J&C to return from the Cape and did some laundry. Had a wonderful dinner enjoying everyone's company. Squire slept in the princess bed in the granddaughters guest room...how cool is that? No signs of Spruce, CK or Strides although I heard that Strides was having lunch with his parents on Saturday not far from here. Don't think that I will catch them at this point they are all probable too far ahead. Tomorrow Bull and I will drop Squire off and do a slack pack going as far as we can go. Bull's knee is still sore and there is still a question if he will be staying on the trail. lata,Southside
Date: 2008-05-05
From: Little Hog Back Mountain

To: Nat'l zoological Pk
Miles today: 13.3

We dropped Squire off in Front Royal and then Bull and I hiked north with Tug. We Have been seeing a lot of downed trees and what appears to be fire damage along this stretch of the trail. After about 7 miles we stopped and ate our lunch and discussed strategy for the day. Bull decided that his knee was about at it's max for the day so he decided that he would hitch a ride back to the car and pick me up later. As luck would have it there was a park ranger doing some sign painting and he offered to give Bull a ride back to the car. I continued on the hike with Tug and did another 6+ miles. For most of the hike Tug had not been leashed and again as luck would have it there was another park ranger that proceeded to tell me that the dog needed to be leashed since in a blink they may take off after wildlife. So Tug had to get back on the leash! I took the opportunity to chat about the down trees and the burned areas. The ranger explained that the downed trees are the casualties of the gypsy moths defoliage (?) them and then the hurricane finishing them off. The burned out areas are a result of controlled burns. Unlike the west coast, the eastern states seem to be more proactive about preventing forest fires and using controlled burns to protect the areas from fires that get out of control. Finished the Shenandoah National Park today. It was great to see Squire and talk with him yesterday. We are both struggling with the issue of going home and completing the balance of the trail in sections. Not sure where or what I am going to do. Bull is definitely heading home with Pam later in the week. I am tired but really want to make it to Harpers Ferry this week. lataSouthsideoh yeah...Carol had the day off so they did a 2+ mile hike at the park.
Date: 2008-05-07
From: Bears Den Rocks

To: Harpers Ferry, WV
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: clear sky

Broke the ONE THOUSAND MILE MARKER today!! Started out from Bears Den with Squire at 7:00 doing a slack pack to Harpers Ferry. Our goal was to make it to Harpers Ferry by 5:00 to sign in and check the log to see when Strides, Spruce and CK had been through. Had a great day hiking even though it was a little warm for me. We saw a lot of civil war redoubts which are a crude type of little forts for the army to hide behind and fight off the enemy. The redoubts are made of earth and dug into the hills with stone on top for added protection. It was great to have Squire along with me since he is a history teacher and loves to educate those of us that are ignorant about such things. Finished the second half of the roller coaster which was not much of coaster. Not much of a challenge even after the 33 mile hike yesterday. After hearing how difficult the roller coaster would be we were pretty glad that it was easier than expected. I logged a lot of miles in the past four days; a total of 70 miles allowing me to reach my original objectives of multiple 20 mile days and at least one 30+ mile day. I feel good about it and am just short of half way done with the trail.   Bull,Tug,Carol and Pam hiked south and towards us meeting us about 2 miles from Harpers Ferry. For them it was all up hill to about 1,000' and crossing a small stream and a couple of springs. We all hiked out together with the last 2 miles being all down hill. We arrived at the AT Conservancy Headquarters at 2:45 and signed in. They then took our pictures to add to the 2008 photo album. I logged in as #47 as a flip flopper since I still do not know when I have to return to work (waiting on word from my boss). As a flip flopper I will now go up to Maine and hike south for as long as I can stay out there. I will finish the trail as I can after that. Bull logged in as #49 in the section hiker category. Squire also logged in as a section hiker. Spruce logged in on the 3rd of May and Strides had been there on the 5th. Both had logged in as a low 40's. CK had been there a few days ahead of them and must be piling on the miles. Headed back to Jerry and Carol's (our favorite trail angels) and celebrated Jerry's birthday with a wonderful dinner. Spent the night (again thank you!)with the plan of driving to RI tomorrow. Yes, all of us headed home! I need a short break before I head out as a SOBO. I will be back out on the southbound trail sometime next week. Will keep you posted. lataSouthside
Date: 2008-05-13
From: Home

To: Williamston, Ma
Miles today: 8.0

 Got up early with great intentions of getting out there and starting the journey to complete Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine in the next month or so. To do this I would need to hike 600 miles and up Katahdin. My plan was to complete this portion of the AT and then do NY, NJ and CT from the shop so that I could work. I would then finish the trail in October. Bull drove me the 160 miles to Williamston and dropped me at the trail head at 9:00.I hiked about 2 miles and I just was out of sorts and not into it. I convinced myself that I just needed to shake off the down time and to keep moving forward. I went another 6 miles and in that time struggled with the decision of whether I really wanted to be out there alone. I just hit a wall and could not get my heart back into it. I knew that I was too far ahead of the guys that had been out there with me earlier and that few would be ahead of me. I could not get myself into it and made the decision to go home and re evaluate how and when I would get back out there and finish the trail. I gave Bull a call and he came back and got me. I am home now and will most likely finish the trail next year or maybe this year. Not sure when or where I will start but I have about 1,100 miles left and I intend to do them. Thanks to everyone for your support. lata Southside.
Date: 2008-05-26
From: Williamston, Ma

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Made the decision to get back out to the trail. Actually, I have been missing the trail and feel like I need to complete what I started. The down time complicates the logistics a bit however I will work out the rest of the details after I do this section. I will start on Wednesday May 28th where the mass pike crosses the AT which is about 38 miles south of the Vermont line. Heading North to Kahtahdin hoping to make it to the top by the 4th of July. See you out there....lata Southside
Date: 2008-05-27
To: Kay Wood Lean To
Miles today: 16.0

Got a ride from Beth up to my drop off point which was the bridge at I-90 in Massachusetts early this morning. Tug came along for the ride but is not hiking with me. He's not a very good hiker once he gets hot and I expect that the ticks are pretty bad out there. I am hoping to go the 638 miles to Kahtadin. It is a beautiful day with bright sunshine!The first half of the day started out great and then the trail disappeared under a lake. It seems that the beavers made a great dam and created a lake. It took me about 20 minutes to find a way around the problem. I sunk into a bog up to my ankle. I met some trail workers after the bog blazing a new trail since the beavers had made a mess of the original one.The second half my knees started to hurt again and I am hoping that this doesn't continue as I haven't even started any ups and downs. I expect that the next two days should be a test for my knees. Made it to the shelter and settled in for the night. About 7:00 i heard someone announce themselves as arriving at the shelter. I recognized the voice and was happy to see that it was CK. He is flying doing a 33 mile day and sure was great to see him! We sat up talking for a long time. lataSouthside
Date: 2008-05-28
From: Kay Wood Lean To

To: Dalton / Home
Miles today: 3.0

Got up early and left before CK got up so didn't get to say my good byes or wish him luck. Headed out and hiked about 1.5 miles and my knees were not feeling any better. Decided to call it a year for the trail and headed into Dalton to figure out how I could get home without putting anyone out too much. I ended up taking a bus to Providence and Beth was able to pick me up again. I will plan to get back out there next April to finish. lataSouthside
Date: 2008-12-13
To: Longing for the Trail
Miles today: 0.0

Well its Dec.13, 2008 and I am planning my 2009 thru hike. Dr. Yakavonus a 0rthopedic surgeon has found a tear in my left knee,and he has me in therapy 2 days a week. He thinks it should be all set for a March 1st start.I Can't remember hurting it,but from the middle of May it hasn't felt right. Off to rehab I go!I am working on my pack weight hoping to get down to about 25#s. It has been hard on my wife (Pam) because she has been traveling alot, and this was a harder decision this time. I can't get the trail out of my head,AND when she gave me the go ahead and her support I knew that i had to give it one more try. SANTA came early at least for me. One of the things i have to do is lose about 25#. To do this Im hiking,walking about 7 miles a day and by mid Jan I hope to be up to 12 miles a day. IN closing i want to thank all the folks that supported Chad & I aka SOUTH SIDE & BULL. Also all of the great hikers I met on the trail. I am looking forward to meeting all the new hikers and maybe some of the repeat hikers when I get back out there.lata,Southside
Date: 2009-01-16
To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Well,I am 6 weeks out and pretty set on my pack weight. Winter weight 27 lbs full pack,{food and water included. I have increased my miles to 8-10 miles a day, would be more but my knee is still a little tender. The good thing,the therapist said my movement and flexabilty has improved so I have that going for me. I have been hiking with my dog Tugboat; he is a 2yr old portuguese water dog. So, on weds tug and I are hiking on Mount Tom trail in RI. Just off the trail is the ruins of a 200 year old mill race. Who ever made this thing made it right... the walls are giant granite blocks stacked and placed to divert the water over the spillway {this is where the water wheel used to be}. Well when I walked over to the wall [4' tall] Tugboat wanted to see what was on the other side. Tug jumped up and before i could grab him he fell face first into the ice cold water. Luckily it scared him more than hurt him. I ran up stream and tried to get him to come to me,but he was not moving. This was better than him panicing and going down stream two feet and going over the dam. So I came back to the wall and the only thing i could think of was to make a lasso out of his leash. On the first try I was able to do this and pull him up and over the wall. When tug hit the ground he acted like he just hit a grand slam home run, he ran and shook himself off and away we went. Just glad he did not hurt himself.We dont go over there any more, I don't want to take any more chances.I know i will miss him when im on the trail alone. Well the day is coming fast but i think i am ready HOPE TO SEE YOU ON THE TRAIL LATA SOUTHSIDE......
Date: 2009-01-25
To: springer
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Well i have been only updating my journal once a week. But i had such a good experiance today that i wanted to share. Tug and i were on the shelter trail in RI. and we had gone about 7 miles when we came up on a Dogsled race. Now i have only seen them on tv and it does not do the teams justice. Power and speed can be the only way to describe them. Tug was in heaven seeing so many dogs in one place,all barking and pulling on their leads at the same time. We saw 5, 6,7,8,sled dog teams,they start at one minute intervals. After watching for 20 min. we continued and finished our 10 mile hike.It was a very special day.Pics to follow.                        latta Southside
Date: 2008-05-23
To: pre hike
Miles today: 0.0

This entry is a little info about my plans and preparations for my hike.I plan on starting my southbound thru-hike June 3rd so long as the park opens Mount Katahdin for use by that time.I have slacked somewhat on physical preparation however I have been able to get a couple of day hikes in over the last few weeks. One to Virgin Falls and another to Cold Mountain. After completing these hikes I am confident that I am in good enough shape to start my hike.As for my gear I have pretty much gathered all the gear I should need. All that is remaining is to purchase food. Right now I'm looking at a base weight(pack weight excluding food, fuel, and water) of about 15lbs.Thats all I've got right now I will try to keep this journal updated as best I can during my hike.
Date: 2008-06-13
From: Monson, ME

To: stratton, ME
Miles today: 117.0
Weather: few clouds

So I just got out of the 100 mile wilderness and it has been an amazing trip so far. There are so many great views to be seen and i've already met a bunch of cool folks up here. So here is a short rundown on what all has happened. Witt, Parsons, and I climbed Katahdin on June 3rd then came back and camped that night in the park. The next day I hiked out of the park and began the 100 mile wilderness. Upon reaching the first shelter I was staying at I realized that I had left my spoon in Witt's car so I wittled a spoon out of a stick I found. In doing that I received my trail name of spoon. If I had to use one word to describe my experience on the trail so far it would be bugs. We have been eaten alive over the past 11 days. All of us are looking forward to moving on from this area for that simple reason. Myself and a few of the guys that i've been hiking with will be staying here in Monson for the next two nights then we are heading on farther south. If anybody would like to know any more info that i have not gone over send me an email or sign my guest book and i'll try to let you know.
Date: 2008-06-21
From: Monson, ME

To: Stratton, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

I'm writing this from the Stratton Motel/Hostel.We left Monson on June 15th after an excellent zero day resting at Shaw's boarding house. It was hard to leave Monson and the people who live there made it even harder, they went out of their way to make us feel at home. For instance Tim the general store owner sent his son to the next town to pick up knee braces for myself and clemson because he didn't have any.Which reminds me old school and sinatra have changed their name again to sweet tea and clemson. Thanks to the suggestion of Dawn the owner of Shaw's.It has been raining alot up here. In fact everyday following and including the day we left Monson it rained. On the day that we hiked to the Kennebec river it was pouring down so much rain that the trail and the creek next to it were indistinguishable. It was a good thing that we reached it that day though because apparently a day or two later the ferry cancelled service for about a week due to the river being at flood stage. We know this because several hikers arrived today by taxi from caratunk where they were otherwise stranded until the ferry service restarted. We actually made it to the Kennebec before the ferry was open and were able to hitch a ride to northern outfitters too eat a good breakfast. After crossing the river we had a short hike to the next hut at pierce pond. There we got another great breakfast the next day of 12 blueberry, raspberry, and apple pancakes from Harrison's Pierce Pond Camps (a fishing camp located a half mile from the shelter). That day we hiked 17 miles to the little Bigelow shelter. The following day we decided to go ahead and push the 15 miles out to stratton over the big bigelow mountain and Avery peak. That was a really tough hike over some of the tallest peaks we had seen in Maine and and it was supposed to have great views however it was overcast and rainy all day in the peaks were completely covered in Clouds.Today we slackpacked (hiked with just day packs) the next two peaks on the trail in order to give clemson and my knees a little rest. We will leave stratton for good tomorrow and hopefully will only have about 10 more days in Maine. We are all ready to get out of Maine and get away from all the rain, bugs, and tough trails that we now associate with Maine. This state is awesome but apparently the warnings are correct and June is not the month to visit Maine.This week we plan on going through Andover, ME and then on to Gorham, NH. During this stretch we will pass through the Mahoosuc Notch which is supposed to be the most difficult mile on the trail so it should be a pretty interesting and intense week.To answer Casey's question about resupplies. I don't have any planned resupplies my plan is to buy my food in the towns that I stop in along the way. However my mom has sent me a few things that I have realized that I needed and were not readily available in the towns that I have gone through.
Date: 2008-06-26
From: Stratton, ME

To: Andover, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I've been talking alot about some of the hard parts of the trail. So in this entry I'm just gonna update on the section we just finished and talk about some of the really cool parts.We did a pretty short section this time between stratton and Andover but during that section we did one really hard day in the rain that just wore us out it was over a couple of 4000 foot peaks and was about 17mi in length. After that we decided to take our time during the rest of the section and cut one 20mi day into two 10mi days. During the first of those days we crossed a road in the morning and decided to hitch into town for breakfast so we went and visited Rangeley. We got back on the trail that afternoon and hiked the remaining 9mi to the shelter that night. Then the next day we crossed another road around noon and hitched into Oquossoc for lunch. Those were a nice break after that very hard day that just wore us down.Now on to the good part. Around the trail when cool things happen to you its called trail magic and the people that go out of their way to help you are called trail angels. Since I have started I have seen a few instances of this trail magic. One of the most recent occurences of this was during the last section. It started raining as soon as we started to climb out of the gap that we had been dropped off at and it continued for most of the hike until we got to the shelter. When we arrived there we found the shelter shelves stocked with mountain house freeze dried dinners and a full size air mattress. Needless to say it was an excellent surprise and made the night much better for all of us. Some other instances would include all the hitches that we have gotten into towns especially when those people go out of their way to get us where we'd like to go. We have even had people pick us up as we went into town on their way to run errands and then come back after they get done and pick us up to take us back to the trail. I'm realizing that the things I am going to enjoy the most about this hike are the encounters I am having with the people who live around and hike on the trail. It has really been great meeting so many good people that just want to talk and lend a helping hand if they can.This will be my last entry until Gorham, NH next week. We will finally be crossing over into a new state. But first we have to go through possibly the hardest section of the entire trail, the Mahoosucs.
Date: 2008-07-22
From: Hanover, NH

To: Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes. I am alive and gettin ready to head back out to the trail. I hiked 30 miles yesterday because the night before I decided that I wanted to spend my birthday in town. So I got started hiking around 7 in the morning and finished about 7:20 at night. The weather wasn't great but that just made the temperature a little bit more comfortable to hike in. When I got into town I ran into my friends mango, gretyl, and cubby. We had a great dinner at the local pizza place. I didn't get to stay at the new hostel but there was another place to stay in town and now i'm at the hostel so that i can use the laundry and internet. A few days ago I stopped in Rutland, VT and took a zero, while I was there some of us decided to go to check out the new Batman movie. About a day before that I decided to take a short 10 mile day and ended up sitting on top of this really cool old fire warden's cabin for about 5 hours before headin down to the shelter for the night. It seems like my last few days have followed this pattern of really long days followed by short days. I probably should try to spread them out a little more. I'm not sure the next place I'm plannin on stoppin at so we'll see.