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 029

Day:  029
Date:  Saturday, 31 May 1986
Daily AT Miles:  0
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  524.9
Total All Miles:  540.5
Weather:  Warm, sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Sausages & eggs, chocolate milk
  Lunch:  Ham & salad rolls, ice-cream.
  Dinner:  Hamburger steak, salad, ice-cream.
Aches:  Both heels sore.  Left heel swollen.
Animals Seen:
People Seen:  Many.

Journal:
I got up at 8:30am and had breakfast at the restaurant.  I passed the morning writing, watching TV and shopping.  I again had a lunch of micro-waved salad rolls and enjoyed an afternoon of sports watching on TV – baseball, bike racing and the first World Cup soccer match.  The latter reminded me that one cost of this trip will be missing the Cup matches (as well as the Commonwealth Games).  At about 5:00pm, Stu, Greyhound (Tom) and Patti turned up, having seen my boots outside of my room.  It was good to see and talk to them and we later had a pleasant dinner together in the restaurant.  They all decided to spend the night on a nearby lawn where they had been given permission to camp.  I spent the remainder of the evening watching a few crummy TV programmes and packing for a quick getaway tomorrow.
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