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 008

Day:  008
Date:  Saturday, 10 May 1986
Daily AT Miles:  16.2
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  144.1
Total All Miles:  150.4
Weather:  Mostly cloudy, warm and humid.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Grape nuts.
  Lunch:  Soup, bread, chilli-cheeseburger, chocolate milk, orange juice.
  Dinner:  Rice and vegetable soup.
Aches:  Feet very sore.
Animals Seen:  Dogs
People Seen:  Three AT Thru-Hikers, two overnight hikers, 50 others.

Journal:
Got up at 6:30am and left at 8am.  Andy and I were both aiming for Wesser for lunch, but were happy to travel separately, meeting occasionally.  For most of the morning the Trail descended steeply from Wesser Bald (4627ft) from where there were reasonable views on a hazy day from an old fire-tower.  The descent was long, steep in places, and punctuated by sudden sharp climbs over knolls.  The forest was lovely and, as the Trail got lower, there were lots of blossoms and leafy glades.  I arrived in Wesser about 11:40am and went to the campstore to buy a few items for the one night I anticipated spending on the Trail between Wesser andFontana.  I then chatted with a couple of AT Thru-Hikers, Angus and Tony, who were spending a day in Wesser and going white-water canoeing in the afternoon.  Wesser was really the Nantahala Outdoor Center which comprised a restaurant, shop, hostel, etc., and ran rafting trips on the Nantahala River.  I went to the restaurant and ordered a reasonably-priced lunch of soup and a chilli-cheeseburger.  About 30 kids arrived at the Center in the middle of my meal.  I left the restaurant, got a chocolate milk, filled my water bottles, and set off at 1:30pm.  I hoped to go 13 miles, but this next section is supposed to be one of the toughest on the Trail.  I said farewell to Andy and set off.  The Trail climbed steeply out of Wesser and I regretted the chilli-cheeseburger which was making me sweat even more than necessary on a humid day.  The Trail was spectacular and cut across steep faces and went along rocky ridges.  My feet were very sore from the morning’s descent and I began thinking that 13 miles in the afternoon was too much. I eventually decided to stop at Sassafras Gap Shelter and did so at 5pm.  Stopping here made it unlikely that I would get to Fontanaon Sunday morning in time to do grocery shopping in the store which possibly closed on Mondays, and also meant that tomorrow night’s dinner would be a hodge podge, but it was nice to stop early.  Andy arrived about 20 minutes after me and we had a pleasant relaxed evening.  Kept waking up again during the night and, at one point, found a mouse nibbling on a cherry pie inadvertently left out.  All other food was hung up.  Maybe my sleeping bag is too narrow to use a sheet in.  Will experiment.
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