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 025

Day:  025
Date:  Tuesday, 27 May 1986
Daily AT Miles:  18.7
Daily Other Miles:  1.0 (around Damascus)
Total AT Miles:  468.7
Total All Miles:  484.0
Weather:  Light rain in the morning, mostly cloudy in the afternoon, rain again at night.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Ham and eggs, chocolate milk.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, health bar.
  Dinner:  Muesli, instant pudding, health drink.
Aches:  Big blisters.
Animals Seen:  Grouse.
People Seen:  Several in town.

Journal:
Got up at 7am and had a shower before walking down to the Post Office to see what mail I had.  My boots were there together with letters from Barb and Pam, and a card from AT hiker, Lisa.  I put the boots on and walked up to the Douglass Inn where I had a cooked breakfast with Gene and Dave.  I returned to the hostel, finished working out a mail schedule, packed my old boots and other things to send to Marj, and wrote a card to Lisa before returning to the Post Office.  I cashed a travellers cheque at the bank on the way back, finished packing, bade farewell to the others and set off in the light rain which had persisted all morning.  I was glad to be on the road again but sorry I hadn’t left earlier than 11am because the first shelter was 26 miles away with a few hills before it.  I resolved to see how I would go.  I shouldn’t be too ambitious because my new, heavy, boots will have an effect.  The Trail climbed up into the mountains past many blossoms in the forest and, at times, followed or paralleled the route of the old Virginia Creeper rail line.  I didn’t stop for lunch until 3:30pm and then spent some time tending to sore spots on my feet.  At about 5:30pm, after more climbing, I decided that my feet were too sore and it would be too late to press on to the Shelter.  Around 7pm I found a nice campsite near a spring in the forest and set up camp.  It rained a little while I had dinner, but not too much.  I went to bed at 9:30pm and, although it rained during the night, I did not get wet and slept well.
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