morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2002-08-29
From: Maine

To: GA
Miles today: 15.0

Thursday August 29, 2002Almost 6 and getting shuttle out to the notch and the sunrise is coming up red.   I am on the trail it is 6:30am. Wild ride out here. Last night when I was reading Pam¢s email and I read what Val had written to her about Bill Jass and the way he had died. [Hesitant ¢ pause] I just broke down and cried and here I am this old man sitting at this computer reading that and all these people sitting there and I know they have to be wondering, ¢What¢s this old man doing crying?¢.   Nobody said anything and I kind of felt sorry for myself.   I thought if I saw an old man sitting there crying, I think I would ask him ¢What¢s Wrong?¢. But they minded their own business.   But later on I went out and it was real quiet down in the valley there and I was looking up at the mountains and the sun was going down and I was thinking about Bill and his life and all the sudden I hear the bagpipes playing coming from clear up in the mountainside somewhere. Floating down into the valley.   It was Amazing Grace, (voice emotional) I just lost it. Thinking about Bill and the bagpipes playing. The lord works in mysterious ways. I will always remember him; he was a good man. I know he was all for me doing this Hike and today is his funeral and God rest his soul.   I wish I could be there to be with his family but I know what he would want and he would want me to be out here and I have been thinking about him.   And I will for a couple days probably, probably a lot more than that.      Came across another southbounder, name was Braer Rabbit, young fellow. Well I made it though the notch. It¢s only 3 in the afternoon but decided to stop at this shelter and stay the night. It just started sprinkling and raining. I am lucky to have gotten through the notch without getting rain.   There are house sized boulders and you go under, over, and through and sometimes you have to take your packs off to get through the holes but you are slipping and sliding and it¢s treacherous.
Date: 2002-08-30
From: MAINE

To: GA
Miles today: 10.0

August 30, 2002, Friday6:30am I am headed south, tented last night and it rained. So I had to pack my wet tent up and it adds extra weight to the pack. But it is a nice cool morning. Man is it slick today. I fell down.   I thought I broke my ribs and put my shoulder out of place. I was slipping before that and I was trying to be careful and I stepped on that one rock and I went down but after I got going again I think I am all right.   But I am sure being careful now. Just crossed the line from Maine into New Hampshire. Was a pretty good day today, made 15 miles. Be a short day tomorrow. Go into Gorham and re-supply.   Get my mail drop package. Blisters are getting a little bit better, but I fell five times today. At one time I fell, I thought I broke something. It¢s getting dark now and I am ready to go to bed.   Met a lot of people on the trail today.   Not a lot but northbounders. I also met another southbounder named Cracker.   HE thinks he can get to Georgia by thanksgiving. We will see. I don¢t know, I thought so too but I don¢t know anymore. I don¢t know if I can even make it by Xmas.
Date: 2002-08-31
From: MAINE

To: GA
Miles today: 17.0

Saturday, August 31, 20026am and I am having a poptart and hot cocoa. I decided I might as well heat up my stove while I am putting my tent away. So that is what I am doing.   Time is flying by it seems. Overcast skies today. My tent got somewhat dried out. Going 6 miles today into Gorham. Will probably stay overnight in a hostel there. Hooked up here on the trail with a guy named Spanky. He¢s got cards and he writes articles for NPR and other Miami papers. He is hiking for kids. He has 8 kids himself. I haven¢t talked to him much about them but he is advocating for more foster care for kids. It¢s a faith-based organization.   WE have sort of been leapfrogging back and forth and hiking together. Very interesting fellow.   It occurred to me that maybe I should be hiking for something. Some kind of organization. Something that maybe would make a difference.   Like maybe kids who are abused, that just tears my heart out.   I would like to do something about that. I think social services should hire people like me. Somebody at least 6 foot tall at least. Somebody meaner that heck and when they here of somebody doing something wrong to kids, just scare the living heck out of them, out of the abuser that is.       I am sitting here at the Wild Berry Inn; it¢s a Bed and Breakfast. They have a cell phone, sitting right out here on the porch. So when you get here if you want a ride into Gorham or to the trail you can use that cell phone sitting right there on the porch and you just speed dial 1 and they send out a shuttle for you. Don¢t cost you a think.   So I am going to be staying at the hiker¢s paradise tonight. It¢s only a quarter after 10am. So I can get my shopping done and they have bicycle too that you can ride into town and there is a Walmart. Maybe I will go out and get some water treatment and a pair of socks to wear around the campground and save little money too.
Date: 2002-09-02
From: MAINE

To: GA
Miles today: 9.0

Monday morning, Labor DaySept. 2, 20025:20 am. It¢s raining and I am sitting in my tent and I have a tough stretch to go over. It¢s really tough if it¢s raining, so what to do?   There is a hut down here and I might be able to stick around awhile and see what happens. Was woken up around 3 this morning and heard something walking around my tent. At first I thought Oh gees it¢s a bear because I didn¢t put my bear bag up. Had it in my tent with me. My food bag.   Then I looked and thought; oh it¢s that darn dog. It¢s big German shepherd, that this couple that I tented next to last night. Dough and Tina.   And I opened up my tent flap and sure enough there was Bodi running around my tent outside.   So then he was around again a couple of hours later. But I got up at 5.   It¢s raining again and I have tough downhill today and these guys said it¢s really tough it¢s raining. But now it¢s quit now and it¢s the latest I have gotten out on the trail here at 7.   But Doug and Tina invited me over for coffee and they gave me some cheese and they gave me some carob things that¢s got health stuff in it and he made me some coffee and they were just great people and I gave them my address and they are going to send my august journal home, my notebook and then my pages from the thru-hike book.   It was kind of hard to leave them, I wish they were coming on. They were just out for a weekend. It¢s nice just to run into them. They were so nice, they just wanted to give me everything they had and I said I had a box coming to Pinkham Notch, that I didn¢t really need the stuff. He has 10-year-old daughter that lives in Minnesota that he keeps track of and contact with and you could tell that he was sad because he doesn¢t get to see her all the time. I just really identified with him and he said well if I get in any trouble, I have his address and phone number to call and he said he would come after me, no matter where I was at. That is kind of nice to know.
Date: 2002-09-23
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

September 23, 2002Got home about 5pm to Ames and Dale, Erlene and Danny picked me up at the bus station. I was really glad to see them. Got home and had a really nice visit with Dale and Arlene. They left the next day, but we really had a good time what time we had together. Things have a way of working out and this needed to happen. WE really connected and it was just like the old days. They are 2 of my favorite people. We had a great time. Then the next day, Brenna came. She was so happy to see me. Mary said you know we are just really happy to have you home here. I do not regret leaving the trail one bit. I am satisfied with what I did. I don¢t¢ really feel all that guilty with taking time off from the family. Now it¢s over and we go on. I will do some work maybe with Jack. Maybe Dan and I can do some work together.   I am starting the remodeling here in our house. Took the old Franklin stove out of the living room and the hearth and started tearing out the wall to the kitchen. Brenna is helping me. I am still suffering though. My feet and calves are cramped. I wake up every hour with cramps and my knees hurt. I didn¢t realize how much you keep moving. You get up at 5 in the morning and then hike from 7 to 5 and it wasn¢t too bad but I am recovering now and I started swimming again. I have all these things to do here and I am happy to be home. I would say to all you south bounders to just keep doing what you want to do and don¢t worry about making any one else happy. Listen to your gut instincts.
Date: 2002-10-03
To: HOME
Miles today: 0.0

October 3, 2002 I have been working all week with my cousin Jack. Hopefully next week my son Danny will start working with us. But as far as the effects from the trail, my toes are still numb. My feet are still swollen and I wake up at night about every 2 hours with cramps in my calves and ankles. It¢s getting better and I am gaining some weight back. I don¢t desire to go back to the trail. I thought maybe I would. I have developed a sense of maybe hiking for 3 days with family, like Theresa or my grandkids maybe here in northern Iowa. But as far as long distance hiking, I don¢t have any desire. My Uncle Dale from near Yosemite, California was telling about the John Muir trail but that doesn¢t turn me on. Maybe a few days, but otherwise no. That is something. You know I don¢t know if I was really all huffed about it anyway. It was more of a challenge or feeling of wanting to leave a feeling of accomplishment of hiking the AT. My grandkids were not all that impressed. They said they would be more impressed if I did something with them instead of doing something like that. They didn¢t¢ really think it was the greatest thing in the world. But I am always thinking about challenges and most things that maybe most other people can¢t or wouldn¢t be able to do. Maybe it¢s an ego thing, I don¢t¢ know what it is. I don¢t¢ have any problems with it if anybody says I quit. It was just a darn job without the pay. I don¢t¢ want to downgrade the trail as if it¢s not the thing to do. It just wasn¢t for me. I don¢t want to sound like a baby or justify by running down everybody that like to hike, but for me it just wasn¢t so. Like the gal that was hiking with her dad and said well the trail isn¢t¢ for everybody and she was right. I am going to end this. It¢s over.
Date: 2004-04-20
From: GA

To: pearisburg, va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

hey everyone,         as i haven's had time to enter last years hike in the journal. i will just give you a short version. went back to williamstown mass. in aug. 2003 and started where i left off in 2002. got to bear mt. n.y. and had to leave because of foot problems. made approx. 200 miles in two weeks. so had a total of approx 800 miles.         so in mar 2004 am going north bound for a change. started at springer on mar. 3. pack was lost for a couple days. didn't come to gainesville . stayed at hiker hostel for three days and had to slack pack til pack came in. bus co. lost it. but luckily it arrived whew!! had a great hike even thru all the snow in the smokies and at grayson highlands. if it weren't for my hiking partners, stiffie and shush. moonpie, haiku, valentyne and others i don't know if i could have made it thru. especially up on the highlands where we couldn;t find the blazes due to wind and snow. lost several times.          had decided to end my section hike for the year a few days ago and just waiting for the spirit to guide me as to when. was hiking in the rain and cold and came upon the usfs road. stopped to rest heard a vehicle coming waved to it. he stopped and asked it i were going on up the mt. and if i was he had been up there turkey hunting. was snowing up there. said he wasgoing back down to pearisburg. got a ride. went to darlene's and had a big meal. got a shuttle from jerry to christiansburg to greyhound. and then 29 hours later home. good to be home. made (650) miles this year in six weeks . not bad for an old fart. met some fantaSTIC people that i will always remember fondly. going northbound has its benefits. am already planning my next hike. but will be driving my car out next year and hopefully leaving it approx 400 miles up the trail. then a short bus trip back to pearisburg to start where i left off. then would like to talk new found friends the smiths into hiking a few days with me. what a great family. stiffie, shush, trekker and i met them few daysoutside of pearisburg where they live. then after we go into town they came out to holy family hostel and took us to ryan's ayce steakhouse and treated us to dinner. then out to their house to use the internet and make phone calls. will hopefully finish the a.t. in 2006 at bear mt. n.y. if i live that long. and hopefully will see stiffie the mighty mullyah at my house the last week of july for ragbrai.             pa kettle
Date: 2004-10-15
From: bear mountain, n.y

To: port clinton, pa
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

hey everyone,         had a couple weeks to kill so decided to go on back to bear mt. and start where i had southbounded to last year. so now next spring i only have from north of pearisburg about 20 miles to port clinton, pa. to go and will have finished my section hike of the a.t. hope to meet up with some no bo's. planning on starting around the 10th of apr. 2005. had a decent hike after being sick the first few days. a special thank you to jim murray for providing a beautiful place (secret shelter) to stay with hot shower and cabin. an experience that i will never forget. peaceful and quiet. except for the first few minutes. heard a noise coming from the woods. sounded like a tormented person in hell. but i very quickly determined that it was donkeys. if i didn't know that i would have been scared to death. ha. what fun!!!. then some wild turkeys came to visit while i was eating supper on the porch. didn';t get to see the resident bear the next morning. about half hour after dark the door opened on the cabin and i got to meet jim and had a nice visit. he was about to go on a full moon run around his property. then after his run he stopped in for another visit. very interesting person. says it takes him a day to mow his property and he mows it all by hand. walks approx. 20 miles to get it all done.      met up with another sobo called bean at glen anderson shelter. hike a few days with him. stayed at the ymca camp. actually stealth camped in one of the cabins there shh. don't tell anyone. we even had hot showers and bunks. wow!! then stayed at church of the mt. and separated there as i decided to take off. during the day. just can't seem to relax around town. have to move. need to change that behavior somehow., will try to get my journal on line. my daughter has a new job now and can't transcribe for me. and my old taperecorder broke so lost a lot of stuff about va. about two weeks worth . but do have some paper journal back up stuff. not quite as good as the tapes tho. so some day will get time to get it on the website.               see you in april. pa kettle
Date: 2005-03-28
From: north of pearisburg, va

To: port clinton, pa
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

hey everybody,         will be arriving at christiansburg va. on apr. 7 and hope to hitch a ride to trailhead north of pearisburg to continue my section hike going north bound. hope to finish this year. was going to wait til the middle of apr. but couldn't stand to wait. anxious to get back out on the trail. hope there are some early birds to hike with. but i understand there has been some bad weather thru the smokies and held people up. i know about that from last year. we got caught in some tough storms up there.                   see ya on the trail , pa kettle
Date: 2006-05-08
To: yorktown, va
Miles today: 0.0

hey everyone, an update. have been doing some triathlons, roadraces, etc. but no hiking since i finished the trail last year.            a friend and i are heading out to astoria oregon on may 25. taking amtrak. will start biking across the u.s. taking the lewis and clark bike trail to sergeant bluff iowa. then hook up with ragbrai. and ride across iowa. then down to murphysboro, ill. to continue on to yorktown va. and finish. will be going across the a.t. in va. in damascus.         figure it will take us almost 3 mo. to do the whole ride. have a trek 730 bike and am pulling a b.o.b. trailer with all my gear (about 35 lbs.)have been reading some a.t. journals lately and getting the fever. am considering doing a thru hike maybe in 2008 if i am still kicking. the section hike was good but feel like i missed something by not doing a thru hike.             last year after finishing my section hike i took the summer off and just trained and participated in triathlons. then in sep. went to work on construction building a biodiesel plant. worked all winter up til two weeks ago. then reretired. had to get ready for the bike trip.               still haven't had time to enter my journals in here. almost too late to do it now.? hope you all are well. regards, pa kettle
Date: 2006-05-09
From: pearisburg, va

To: port clinton
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

was looking thru my journals finally and discovered that i had not made an entry on my completion of the a.t. last year. i think i did but must have done something wrong and it did not get entered. anyway i did complete the section hike of the trail last may in port clinton , pa. had a good hike but was alone for most of the hike. took 6 weeks to get from north of pearisburg to port clinton. had decent weather for the most part. i did tape my journal and have written record also but not time to get the entries on the website. other than the whites va. was my favorite part of the trail experience.         i bought a new tent for this part of the hike. a hubba. what a great tent. light and durable. i even was able to set it up several times in a shelter cause i was alone most of the time. no mice crawling over me. ha ha   once i went four days without seeing a solitary soul. unbelievable. thought i was in the twilight zone.          am going on the bike trip across u.s. with a friend this year but am thinking seriously about a thru hike in 2008 if i am still kicking.         maybe i will get some time to get some entries from my journals in soon. regards, pa kettle
Date: 2003-06-09
To: A little about my hike
Miles today: 0.0

(This journal entry actually began 1/22/2005, I have tried to date things back to where I began hiking back in 2003. Things may seem a little strange, but once I get to my 2005 hikes, it should be easier to read)This year I hope to complete a three-year section hike of the AT. So far, I've hiked from Springer Mt. in Georgia to Harpers Ferry, WV. I plan on doing a Spring break hike in late March for six days, then will continue the journey north from wherever I end up from that hike in the summer. I am a teacher, so I've been stuck with hiking when I'm out of school. This year, we have an extra three weeks added to our summer (legislative changes to our calendar), so I have extra time to hike. I've not kept an accurate journal to upload here for the past two years of section hikes, so I plan on telling some of my favorite stories from these hikes. I also plan to add many of my pictures. I will keep (hopefully) accurate journal entries from the spring break hike forward. I've really enjoyed reading about other people's adventures; I hope you will enjoy mine.
Date: 2003-06-10
From: Davenport Gap

To: Brown Gap
Miles today: 12.5

My first hike on the AT was in early June of 2003. I hiked from Davenport Gap, just North of the Smokys to Hot Springs, NC. As I look back on it now, I'm surprised I continued hiking after this experience. My pack weight was slightly over 50lbs. I was using a very old Coleman external pack, and had tons of unnecessary items. The first day I hiked up snowbird mt. which is a huge elevation gain to start with. I didn't think I would ever reach the top. I spent time at the FAA observation tower once I reached the summit. It was beautiful. I could see the Smokys in the distance and the weather was great. The next day I crossed over Max Patch Mt., which since I don't live but a few hours away from, I have visited again. Max Patch is a southern bald, one of many I was to experience in the future. There were wild strawberries on the way to the summit, and the wind was whipping around me. This is where I started to become sick. I experienced nausea from the heat, and dehydration from not drinking enough water. Once I was off Max Patch, I had to just lie down (after throwing up). I became convinced that somehow I had fouled up my water filter, and didn't trust my filter. After camping that night, I had one more day into Hot Springs. The hike itself wasn't difficult, but the lack of water, and nausea made for an unpleasant time. I ran out of water on the descent into Hot Springs, and began drinking water off of the Rhododendron leaves. Obviously, I was pretty desperate at this point. When I arrived in Hot Springs, I bought something to drink at the local store, couldn't eat anything, the went to the Post Office and just laid down in the lobby, waiting on my ride. Even after all of these things, I couldn't get over the beauty of everything around me. I had always loved to hike, I just knew I was inexperienced in long distance hiking, and needed to get rid of a TON of weight. I figured that if I survived this trip (which I still wasn't sure of on the way home), I could endure almost anything.