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 031

Day:  031
Date:  Monday, 2 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  24.8
Daily Other Miles:  0.7 (0.3 Shelter, 0.4 Spring)
Total AT Miles:  573.5
Total All Miles:  589.8
Weather:  Very warm, humid, partly sunny in afternoon.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, health drink.
  Dinner:  Macaroni cheese, pop tarts.
Aches:  Both heels, front of feet.
Animals Seen:  Grouse, deer.
People Seen:  One day hiker, two overnight hikers, couple of cars.

Journal:
Got up at 6:10am and after treating feet and breakfast got away at 8:00am.  Ken and Lewis left at 7:00am but we caught them after about 6 miles.  The Trail was fairly easy going, being mainly downhill, and again was mainly on a ridge with occasional views down to the farms in the valleys.  It was again through forest with many flowers.  While stopped for my morning break (Stu had gone on ahead) at Jenkins Shelter (lots of mosquitoes) I met a day hiker who belonged to a club responsible for maintaining the Trail around Atkins.  We discussed the cow pastures.  They were having a work bee next weekend to try and improve it.  From the Shelter the Trail descended to Laurel Creek (everything’s laurel-something) and passed through boggy swampy country with many creek crossings.  At one I found Stu stopped for a wash and lunch as well as a father/son overnight hiker team.  I stopped too.  After lunch the Trail climbed steadily up on to the ridge againwith some of it sloping left to right hurting my feet a lot.  Most of the time it was good, however.  At a rest stop I accidentally knocked a water bottle off the track and it crashed off down the very steep hillside.  I didn’t bother chasing it as I could hear it crashing for a long time.  The Trail descended to cross a road and freeway (I-77).  Somewhere around here, Barb and I crossed the AT on our way to West Virginia.  I got a toot from a semi-trailer on the freeway as I crossed overhead.  From there it was a couple of miles uphill to the turn-off then ¼ mile to Helveys Mill Shelter which was very nice including a table.  Stu already had a fire going.  It was a long steep walk down to a stream for water that my sore feet didn’t appreciate.  At least I was a bit earlier than last night and had time for a leisurely dinner before retiring at 9:15pm.
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