morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2015-02-01
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

We had some snow around here in the last few weeks, so this is making it a bit difficult to get quality training hikes in. I decided to head out and do a 2-3 hour hike on the horseshoe trail yesterday afternoon. I loaded up my pack with about 30 pounds of weight and drove to the top of the mountain on State Game Land 156 and started hiking down the north side of the mountain. The snow was about 6-8 inches deep on the top and I expected it to be less after I got to the bottom. But the thing is, it stayed about that depth the entire way to the bottom. I went a little over a mile and it took me close to 40 minutes. It did not go well. I was post-holing my way through the snow and it was frustrating. ¢Screw this¢ I thought, this isn¢t hiking, this is floundering. I turned around and headed back up the hill to where I parked. It took me 50 minutes just to fight the mile back up the hill again. I felt thoroughly defeated when I finally got there. I know there will be lots of days on the trail that won¢t go well, so maybe this is helpful to get some frustrating bad miles in before the real deal.On the bright side; I really like my low cut waterproof Keen shoes. My feet did not stay dry through the deep snow because the snow came in the tops of the shoe. However they did keep my feet warm, even though they were wet. I plan to start with the waterproof shoes, then switch to a standard lightweight running shoe or trail shoe after I get into warmer weather. My thinking is that it will be more important to keep my feet ventilated than it will be to always keep them dry when it gets warm.My hat¢s off to all who are already on the trail and trudging through snow. Carry on!I¢ll be following in your footsteps in seven more weeks.
Date: 2015-02-09
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Another week, another 10K race, another training hike, and one week closer to my adventure. Sometimes it feels as if 6 more weeks will take forever. Then when I think about how many years I¢ve been waiting to do this, it feels like it¢s just around the corner.On Sunday afternoon I went down to the southern end of Lancaster County along the Susquehanna River to get some miles in the woods with my backpack. I chose this area, hoping there was less snow to wade through than last weekend.A friend and her dog joined me for the trek in the woods. She has this eighty something pound Saint Bernard/Sheepdog mix, and he knows how to live life with enthusiasm. There¢s something about having a big, clumsy, hairy dog in a constant state of happiness riding along in the back seat, that gets you excited about getting out there. Whenever the car slowed down and he thought we might have arrived, he panted in anticipation. It was infectious. I think I may have picked up some valuable habits from a canine to use on the trail.¢¢        When you start your first hike for the day, be happy that you¢re out there.¢¢        When you see something interesting, stop and check it out.¢¢        When you have the opportunity to get dirty, get dirty.¢¢        When you come to a shallow creek, wade in it.¢¢        When someone tells you to do something you don¢t want to, act like you don¢t hear them.¢¢        When something itches, scratch it. Don¢t worry about how it looks.¢¢        When you have to pee, just pee.¢¢        When someone is eating, check it out, and look hungry.¢¢        When there¢s no hiking to be done, sleep with abandon.
Date: 2015-02-18
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

Every year hundreds of people have plans to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, and this year I feel fortunate to be able to be among those who made plans for a thru hike. Once the class of 2015 gets underway, I suspect most of us will encounter things that we just didn¢t foresee. Some of those unforeseen things may be good and some may be bad. I hope I¢ll be able to adapt to the good and the bad that come my way. I feel certain that I will have to improvise my plans, my gear, and my food as the trail teaches me that mother nature won¢t change her ways because of me, and that it is I who must change my ways to fit her mood.The way I understand, approximately 25% of the people who set out to do a thru hike, actually finish their endeavor. I am completely aware of possibility that my hike could be aborted. Lots of things could go wrong; I could be mauled by a bear, bitten by a rattlesnake, struck by lightning, assaulted or murdered by a wacko, succumb to hypothermia, drown in a river, etc. I¢m sure these dangers are real, but I suspect there is a very low probability of any of those things happening to anyone. I suppose the most likely threat to my thru hike attempt will be something less dramatic; like blisters, stress fractures, an event that happens at home, or just plain trail weariness.If I would have to give myself an estimated chance that I¢ll complete my mission, I would guess between 80-90% chance I¢ll succeed. (I¢m sure the seasoned thru hikers are laughing at my optimism) It would be interesting to know how the perceived odds of finishing compare to the actual finish rate.With only four remaining weekends before my departure, and lots of things to do on those weekends, I may not get any more opportunities for an overnight hike before I leave. I am fairly satisfied with all of my gear and my plans. Now I still have to get four more weeks in at work and wait for the weather to warm up a little.May all my fellow thru hikers find themselves in the 25% group this year.
Date: 2015-03-05
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

This is a test post with my Samsung Note 4 that I purchased recently.I wanted something with a big screen so that I can update my journal with my phone, and the Note has that. It also has a much longer battery life that my old Samsung Galaxy 3 ever had. The Note 4 has a power saving feature which allows you to turn all its other features off, except the phone and texting capabilities. With the power saving mode turned on, the battery life should be well over a week. I also have a small rechargeable battery pack (the Mycharge) that will restore my phone battery one time when it is fully charged.I decided to forget about the idea of taking a good camera along on the trail and will just use the one on my phone.My thoughts are with all the folks that are already on the trail as I enjoy daily hot showers for two more weeks.
Date: 2015-03-19
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Getting my ONE WAY Ticket to Gainesville, Georgia makes this upcoming adventure seem more real than ever. Ride down, walk back.My last day at work was on Wednesday. As I locked up the shop for the last time for a very long time it tugged at my heart. A mix of emotions, joy and sadness. Realizing a lifelong dream, leaving a place that was a big part of my life for over twenty years. Not permanently but still...On Saturday morning I will walk out of my house, walk a mile to the bus stop, take the bus to the Lancaster train station, take Amtrak to Philadelphia, change trains, and wind up in Gainesville on Sunday morning.Butterflies in my stomach.
Date: 2015-03-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Today was a day of wrapping up loose ends at home.I did all my laundry, cleaned the house up a bit, and packed all my gear and enough food for four days into my backpack. Perhaps I should name my pack, since it will most likely be by most dependable sidekick for the foreseeable future. Well, maybe my phone will rank right up there as well. Maybe a name will be earned along the way.I packed my dog and enough dog food, medication, and dental chews to last for several months into my car and left both the dog and the car at my parents house for safekeeping.I said my goodbyes and then I was off. I ran the ten miles back to my house through a late winter snow that was falling all day. No car and no dog...this will take some getting used to.I ended the last day at home by going out to dinner with a friend, who also had to be my chauffeur.One more night in my own bed.
Date: 2015-03-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: snow

Today was a day of wrapping up loose ends at home.I did all my laundry, cleaned the house up a bit, and packed all my gear and enough food for four days into my backpack. Perhaps I should name my pack, since it will most likely be by most dependable sidekick for the foreseeable future. Well, maybe my phone will rank right up there as well. Maybe a name will be earned along the way.I packed my dog and enough dog food, medication, and dental chews to last for several months into my car and left both the dog and the car at my parents house for safekeeping.I said my goodbyes and then I was off. I ran the ten miles back to my house through a late winter snow that was falling all day. No car and no dog...this will take some getting used to.I ended the last day at home by going out to dinner with a friend, who also had to be my chauffeur.One more night in my own bed.
Date: 2015-03-21
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I got up this morning and took my time making coffee, and eating breakfast.I put on my trail gear that I prepared yesterday. When I pulled on my tee shirt and long sleeve tech shirt they smelled bad. I treated them with permethrin a few weeks ago and put them in a plastic bag. I guess they weren't dry when I packed them, because they smelled moldy. I quickly threw them in the washer and got rid of the smell. I'm sure that bad smelling duds will be the norm in the coming months, but I did not want to subject my fellow train passengers with that odor today.I turned all my baseboard heater thermostats as low as they would go and turned the water heater off. Left my keys in the house, walked out the front door, pulled it shut, shouldered my backpack, and walked down the road without looking back.When I walked across the parking lot at the Wal-Mart to get to the bus stop, this familiar red pickup slowed down, the window whirred down, and my Uncle Dan started snapping pictures with his camera. He checked the bus schedule and decided to come out to see me off. Of course, he also felt it was necessary to tell the bus driver all about my planned adventure. Sheesh, I wasn't even able to sneak out quietly! Gotta love family! The photo is of my awesome, supportive, and slightly crazy, uncle.As the day fades, I ride into the night on parallel rails of steel inside a big, glass and steel, climate controlled, canister on wheels, swaying gently around the curves and over the gradual hills that were modified by humans to make travel both fast and comfortable. Not that fast and comfortable is a bad thing, it's just that it's protected and unadventurous. Very different from my planned return trip.
Date: 2015-03-22
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I rolled into Gainesville this morning around 7:00.I was picked up at the train station by a driver from Hiker Hostel, where I will spend the day and the night. In the morning I will get shuttled to Amicalola Falls park. For 80 dollars Hiker Hostel will pick you up at Gainesville, give you a bunk to sleep in, feed you a great breakfast, and shuttle you to either Springer Mountain or the approach trail. If you want a great way to start off your hike, go with Hiker Hostel.Riding the rails all night while making multiple stops where people are constantly getting on and off does not make for a good night's sleep. I spent a lot of the night in the dining car poring over the 2015 Trail Guide and I spent the afternoon catching up on sleep that I didn't get last night.I had an interesting conversation with the shuttle driver on my way here. He did an AT thru hike in 2009 and did a PCT thru hike a few years later. He told me that approximately 20% of wannabe thru hikers get off the trail before they get to Neel's Gap, which is only about 30 miles from the start. 1/3 of wannabe thru hikers never even make it out of Georgia before giving up. I, along with a few other hikers that came in this evening, had pizza delivered from Papa Johns for dinner. It is quite entertaining to sit in the common room and listen to hiking stories from the last few days. A lot of the people staying here tonight started the trail a few days ago. Listening to them is quite informative.Here is a pic of me, Huckleberry, Jot, Enigma, Archaeopteryx, and two brothers from Hawaii who are starting tomorrow.I am lying in my bunk, along with three other people in my room listening to snoring that is coming from a few rooms away. Such is life on the AT.
Date: 2015-03-23
From: Amicololo Falls

To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Derek, the chauffeur from Hiker Hostel took (Sam from Minnesota), Chantastic, Sooper Trooper, and me to Amicalola Falls this morning after breakfast. The mood was fun and light on the way with Derek teasing us about sending pictures of hot coffee, pizza, and leftover breakfast to us in the coming days.I was #682 thru hiker to sign in this year and my pack weighed in at 30 pounds. It seemed like a lot of those started in just the past few weeks. After we all took lots and lots of pictures at the stone archway we finally got the courage to step through the archway. It worked like a space/time portal, once we were on the other side we were officially started. We were now on a mission to get to the start of the Appalachian trail. The official trail starts on the top of Springer Mountain in the middle of nowhere. You have two options to get to the start; you can hike the 8.8 mile approach trail that goes up past Amicalola Falls or you can drive to the parking lot on Springer Mountain and go backwards on the AT for almost a mile to get to the start.Of course, I would like to consider myself a bad ass Hiker, so I chose the approach trail. The approach goes up a series of flights of metal steps up past the falls. Since we couldn't find an elevator we had to go up the 475 steps to get past the falls. After we got past the steps we kept going past the occasional Hiker as we all toiled towards the summit. A Hiker named Ropeburn joined our little group, and now we were five. About half way to the top Ropeburn and I kept getting ahead of the rest of the group. After a while Chantastic said his knee was giving him some grief, so Ropeburn and I stopped waiting on them. We summitted around 2:30. There was quite a few people at the top. We took photos and had lunch. My little toes on both feet were getting sore, so I taped them before moving on. We decided to push on to Hawk Mountain shelter. I met Can Do, a fellow Trail Journalist, on his way to the summit from the parking lot. We stopped at Stover's Creek Shelter for a break around 4:00 where we met 14 again, who was signing in this morning at the visitor center when we were. He planned to stay at Stover's. Ropeburn and I pressed on towards Hawk Mountain, we met a Ridge Runner a few miles from the shelter and he warned us that there was a lot of hikers there. We arrived at the shelter around 7:00. There was a lot of tents set up but there was still spots left in the shelter. Ropeburn moved in the shelter and I pitched a tent.A Ridge Runner is a person who works for the ATC and monitors what is going on out on the trail. They pick up trash left by inconsiderate hikers, clean up blow downs, and give advice to novice hikers like me. It seems like a fun job.The weather was gorgeous! It simply could not have been a better day for my first day on the trail.
Date: 2015-03-24
From: Hawk Mountain Shelter

To: Lance Creek
Miles today: 16.2
Weather: broken clouds

This photo was taken from the top of Preaching Rock. The weather is absolutely phenomenal! I worry that I will start taking these ideal conditions for granted.I slept fairly well last night, but the night was still long. I got to bed soon after 8:00 PM and couldn't really get up and start packing before 7:00 AM because it was dark. I got out of my tent around 5:30 and went down to the stream to filter my water. The night sky was breathtaking. Zero light pollution, and it looked like millions of stars were competing to be noticed.Yesterday the trail was still muddy from the previous day's rain, but today it was dried out a lot more. I had to start off the day by climbing up Sassafras mountain. It seemed like today's miles had a lot more up and down in them than yesterday. Then again, maybe it's just the mileage taking its toll on the legs. Tomorrow I plan to keep mileage lower, I want to resupply at Neel's Gap and stay there for the night.I have been running into a lot of hikers in the morning and the evening, but during the rest of the day I don't see much. Perhaps we are going the same pace.When I was going up over Sassafras mountain I was going back and forth with Mr. Fidgets, Single Speed, KC, and Mud Bath. I think Mr. Fidgets and Mud Bath were married, Single Speed was Mr. Fidget's Dad. I was teasing them that they won't want to be considered family anymore by the time they reach Maine. They responded by calling me trench foot after that. Really cool people. I think the highlight of the AT, at least so far, is the wonderful people that are out here.Tonight we are camped out on the top of a hill just up from Lance Creek. We have a 270 degree view of the surrounding mountains. The sunrise should be quite a sight!I am sharing the campsite with Treebeard, Bugman, Flea, Huckleberry, and his wife Jot. Two more hikers rolled in just before dark, Treebeard knew them, but I still didn't really meet the couple.Today's tip; if you take the tent poles out of your tent bag and put them in one of the outside pockets of your pack, it packs much nicer. The tent and cover smoosh together and fit much better.
Date: 2015-03-25
From: Lance Creek

To: Neel's Gap
Miles today: 7.4
Weather: clear sky

Where is that gorgeous sunrise?Last night the weather changed. Soon after midnight I heard the wind blowing through the trees, it didn't seem to hit the tent really hard but it sounded ominous. As soon as it started getting light outside I started hearing rain on the tent. I jumped up and hustled outside to get my shoes inside. I had them hanging on a small tree to dry them out a bit. It turned out that it wasn't raining, it was just the mist that was collecting on the tree branches and dripping onto the tent. After I made sure that my shoes stayed dry I spent another thirty minutes or so online to see what was happening in the world. Since I knew I was getting into Neel's Gap today I didn't need to save a lot of phone battery. Then as soon as it was light enough to see what I was doing I started breaking camp. The tent was wet and heavy but everything else stayed dry.I was almost out of water and there wasn't any water here where we camped. I put my pack cover on the pack and wore my rain gear for the first time. There was no water source till I got to Woods Hole Shelter, which was a mile or so away.I cooked breakfast with "Two Sticks" and Harley at the shelter. After that it was just climbing up over Blood Mountain and then going down into Neel's Gap where I got a bunk at the famous Mountains Crossing hostel.Even though the weather was not nice and sunny the way it was the last few days, the mist and rain added a certain kind of beauty to my walk. The trail over Blood Mountain goes over slabs of slanted rock that would be really treacherous if it was icy. Supposedly Blood Mountain gets its name from a bloody battle between the Cherokee and the Creek Indians. The story may be disputed but it was interesting and somber to think about the history of the mountain and the surrounding area.The AT goes right through the building at Mountains Crossing. They are an outfitter for the trail with about 20 bunks with showers and laundry. Talk about being in the right location! Hikers are busy reorganizing their packs - stuff that isn't needed gets sent home and stuff that is needed gets purchased. I bought another fuel canister, and food for the next 4-5 days. Oh, and I also bought food to eat right now; a prepackaged Italian sub, a Sprite, a bag of cookies, an apple, and a package of Twizzlers. Junk food never tasted so good! And, the hot shower was THE BEST! I was still wearing the clothes I left with on Saturday, but now they are cleaned up and ready to go. I feel ready to hit the trail again tomorrow.At around 6:30 a van pulled in and started unloading a feast for hungry hikers. It was a Baptist church group from Florida who spends their spring break in this area feeding hungry hikers. They laid out a registration book and spread out some religious books and pamphlets. Satan himself may have considered converting after a spread like that!Today's tip: Bring a pair of sunglasses when hiking the AT. I wasn't going to bring glasses, but at the last minute I opted to throw them in my pack. They really came in handy the first two days.
Date: 2015-03-26
From: Neel's Gap

To: Blue Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: haze

Last evening I started making plans for an early start with Samson the bear, Darkest Hour, and Dirty Harry. Samson and I want to make it to Blue Mountain Shelter today, which would be my biggest day yet.I stayed up a bit later than I usually do, because I got started talking with Dirty Harry about what he does. I met some really hard core runners in the past, but this guy is about as extreme as any I've met. He is a lightweight, easy going, nice guy. He has thru hiked the AT twice in the past and is hiking about half the AT this year. He works for U.S. Forest Service as a member of the hot shot firefighting team. His work year is only six months long but the hours he puts in are unbelievable. His work schedule goes like this; 14-21 days straight of 16 hours each then he gets 2 days off and the cycle starts over. The work is almost all out in the woods with chain saws and 40 pound packs. Most of his hours in six months are overtime hours. When his six month cycle is over, what does he do? He races competitive ultra races. He just recently ran a 50 mile trail race in 6:45:00! He is hiking half of the AT to get ready for his next six month stint as a firefighter.The people I meet out here are about as interesting as the trail itself. So anyway, we got up at 6:00, packed up our packs, then had a breakfast of leftover lasagna and sugar cookies. It was raining pretty steady, so we put our pack covers on, and suited up in our rain gear. Darkest Hour had already started, so Samson and I left around 7:00. We caught up to Darkest Hour (who is retired), and we hiked through rain for an hour or two. Dirty Harry blew past us after we were on the trail for about an hour. In Tesnatee Gap we ran into a small church group who was giving out hot chocolate and cookies to hikers. Treebeard met us when we stopped for the cookie break and joined us when we left. We stopped for lunch at Low Gap Shelter then when we left Treebeard stayed to rest his Achilles and Darkest Hour decided to call it a day. Another hiker, Jason, decided to join us when we left. We hiked strong till 5:00 when we got to Blue Mountain Shelter. Treebeard rolled in a few hours later. We are camped out on the top of the mountain with dozens of other tents and a few campfires. It was a good day.Today's tip; duct tape works really well to keep chafing toes from getting too bad.