In 1986, a few days after running the Boston Marathon, and following a year of touring the US and Canada in a campervan, I set off by train to realise a dream to walk the Appalachian Trail. I first heard about the Trail from the American wife of a work colleague in Melbourne a few years earlier and had since read widely about the trail. The Trail follows the crest of the Appalachian Mountains for more than 2,200 miles along the eastern side of the US. Starting in mid-spring, I followed the trail northwards from Springer Mountain in Georgia to its northern terminus at Mount Katahdin in Maine, finishing in the late summer. It remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my life, fostering an ambition for more such experiences and inspiring me to retire from work early enough follow through on that ambition. In 1986, only about 80 people each year completed the whole trail, but during that year National Geographic did a feature article on the Trail and its popularity increased dramatically.

Appalachian Trail - Day 006

Day:  006
Date:  Thursday, 8 May 1986
Daily AT Miles:  25.7
Daily Other Miles:  1.4 (0.2 to spring, 1.2 to camp).
Total AT Miles:  106.4
Total All Miles:  112.7
Weather:  Hot, humid and mostly sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Grapenuts
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, fruit bar.
  Dinner:  BBQ chicken, potato salad, apple pie, cream puff.
Aches:  Feet very tired and right heel sore.
Animals Seen:  Squirrel, marmot, two turkeys.
People Seen:  Three AT Thru-Hikers, twelve others.

Journal:
Got up at 6:25am and left at 7:55am.  It was a lovely morning and I made good progress through leafy glades, groves of beech and rhododendron, and along ridges.  The Trail grades were good.  I passed Standing Indian Shelter and climbed almost to the top of Standing Indian Mt (5498ft).  The views were good and the Trail followed narrow ridges.  Just before reaching Carter Gap Shelter, I caught Will, who was hiking to Pennsylvania.  He’d done a lot of hiking but moved slow.  He was with a loose group of six all headed for Big Spring Shelter.  We had lunch and chatted at the Shelter.  I had made good progress in the morning and was determined to try for Rock Gap Shelter, approx. 12 miles further, for the night.  The Trail had been passing through a Wilderness Area and Bear Sanctuary and, in the afternoon, climbed around the rock cliffs overlooking the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory.  The views were excellent.  I passed two more of Will’s group, Brett and ?.  The trail climbed incredibly steeply up to the summit of Albert Mt (5250ft) with a fire-tower and more superb views.  I took a well-deserved rest and then set off to go to Big Spring Shelter and say hello to the other members of Will’s group, but didn’t realise it was off trail so passed it by without realising.  My feet were getting very tired, but still fit.  I pressed on, mainly downhill through leafy forest towards Rock Gap Shelter.  Two miles short, I met Caroline, an AT Thru-Hiker going in the opposite direction, who recommended going on to Wallace Gap then off the Trail to Rainbow Springs Campground where there was ice-cream, showers, laundry and cabins.  Initially, the thought of another two miles was too much but I eventually decided in favour.  I passed the trail to Rock Gap Shelter, but didn’t go down to say hello to the two hikers Caroline had told me were there.  At Wallace Gap I turned left down the bitumen road and walked to the Campground, arriving at 7pm.  All the residents – three newly-graduated medical students/hikers from Syracuse, NY, Debbie, the female half of honeymooners, Dexter, some kind of salesman, Jensine and Bud, the owners, and their first two caravanners of the season – were having an outdoor BBQ by the river. There were no vacant cabins, but they could find me a bed in one being renovated.  I showered (very nice) and joined the party.  All were semi-drunk.  They were impressed with my 27 miles.  I’m the biggest mileage man they’ve seen, but the New Zealander in front of me is flying along too.  As I arrived to eat, Dexter and Debbie set off to find the new groom, Roland, who had disappeared. All was not well with the honeymooners.  I had seen him when walking down to the Campground, so they took off and returned an hour later.  There was still friction.  I ate well and chatted.  As dark set in, singing and racist jokes emerged.  Roland joined in, obviously unstable, with a maniacal laugh.  I was required to sing Waltzing Matilda.  Singing finished with God Bless America andAmerica the Beautiful.  Very surreal.  I asked if I could do laundry and began at 10:30pm.  Rang Barb collect, at her friend, Jane’s, inConnecticut.  I finished washing, writing cards and eating ice-cream, chips and drinking Coke about midnight.  I fell over a rock walking down to my cabin – the only person not drunk in the Campground.  Went to sleep on a comfortable bed at 12:30am.  An interesting but exhausting day.  27 miles is too far at this stage.
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