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 030

Day:  030
Date:  Sunday, 1 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  23.8
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  548.7
Total All Miles:  564.3
Weather:  Sunny, warm, humid.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Sausages and eggs, orange juice
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, health bar.
  Dinner:  Macaroni cheese, instant pudding.
Aches:  Both heels sore.
Animals Seen:  Chipmunks, squirrels.
People Seen:  Four AT hikers (by stages), many others.

Journal:
Got up at 6:50am and had a shower and breakfast before leaving at 7:55am after saying goodbye to Stu, Patti and Greyhound (Tom, the Belcher in Hill Street Blues look-a-like) though I expected to see Stu again because he was keen to move a bit faster and was going to make for the same shelter.  The first few miles were very difficult as they followed cow-trodden paths through farms and were very boggy in parts.  Later the Trail left the farmland and began climbing gently onto the forested ridges.  Once again, many flowers were around – azaleas, laurels, rhododendrons. Both feet were sore – the left one now so because I was too cavalier in cutting away skin over a deep blister.  Stu soon caught me and I let him go because my progress was slow though we met many times during the day.  There were a few tough hills which made my feet hurt.  At about 1pm, we came out onto a country road and the Trail followed that for some time.  We passed pretty farm houses and waved and chatted to a few of the friendly inhabitants.  We stopped for lunch in a picnic area before negotiating a long hill up to Chestnut Ridge.  On the crest of the ridge the trees disappeared and there were good views in the late afternoon haze of surrounding ridges.  The guidebooks told us that there was no water at Chestnut Knob Shelter so we stopped at a spring 1.8 miles before the shelter and filled our water bottles and bags.  They were heavy and made it a long slog uphill (gradual) to the shelter.  When we arrived (Stu first) two other hikers, also northbound, were in residence.  There was Ken (~60) and Lewis (~45), the latter suffering from a withered left shoulder and arm which made it hard for him to carry a pack.  We got a fire going after our 7:30pm arrival and managed to cook dinner while chatting to Ken, who was interested in our trip and had hiked about half of the AT.  He promised to send us a carved boot if we notified him we had finished the AT.  Bunk space in the old stone cabin on top of the ridge was limited and I slept on the table and didn’t have a real good night when we retired at 9:30pm.  Ken and Lewis went to bed earlier and Ken snored.
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