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 020

Day:  020
Date:  Thursday, 22 May 1986
Daily AT Miles:  19.1
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  378.9
Total All Miles:  391.2
Weather:  Mostly sunny but cool at altitude.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast: Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, Mars Bar.
  Dinner:  Macaroni cheese, instant pudding, Mars Bar.
Aches:  Left Achilles, both heels.
Animals Seen:  Cow.
People Seen:  Seven overnight hikers, four others.

Journal:
Got up at 6:30am but took until 8:20am to get going as I had to finish repacking groceries.  The day was fine and sunny and the morning involved a number of tough climbs, the major of which was up Roan Mt (6150ft).  The views were good from Roan Mt and even better from Round Ball summit (5807ft).  The latter was a “bald”.  These are alpine in appearance and always seem to give better views.  I descended to Roan Highlands Shelter where I had lunch.  During the course of the morning I had met John and dog. The same was to happen in the afternoon as the Trail crossed some reclaimed farmland and crossed some more balds culminating in the very impressive Hump Mt which I reached at about 5pm.  It was cool in the wind but clear enough to give excellent views in all directions of the Appalachians receding into the distance.  The gradual descent was spectacular in the patchy afternoon sun.  The descent became steeper until I finally reached Apple House Shelter after passing through an old mining area.  Two 40ish women were in residence and, though polite and friendly, were a little stand-offish.  They retired at 8pm to zipped-together sleeping bags.  I stayed up until 9:15pm.  It was a cool night and plenty of mice.
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