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 033

Day:  033
Date:  Wednesday, 4 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  15.8
Daily Other Miles:  5.5 (2.5 Hospice, 3.0 shopping)
Total AT Miles:  612.4
Total All Miles:  634.5
Weather:  Warm, humid, mostly sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, Quik.
  Lunch:  Cheeseburger, fries, milkshake.
  Dinner:  Pizza, salad, ice-cream.
Aches:  Feet very tired and sore.
Animals Seen:  Two deer, chipmunks, dogs.
People Seen:  Six day hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 6:10am and managed to get away by 7:20am.  On the map it looked like that, after a climb, the walking should be easy.  However, despite the fact that my feet felt better and I could stride out and the Trail was fairly easy, progress seemed to be slow.  It was, however, very pretty with lots of flowers, rocky bits, and occasional views.  I fell heavily at one point, when a rock I stepped on moved, but my pack absorbed most of the impact and, after lying there for a minute wondering what damage was done, I got up to find none apart from a sore arm.  Stu had headed off earlier at a fast pace and I didn’t expect to see him until Pearisburg.  The Trail climbed up steeply to an escarpment where it wended its way through thigh-high undergrowth.  It seemed that miles were longer than indicated in the guide.  The Trail came out onto a ledge overlooking the valley in which Pearisburg lay.  Stu was there having a rest.  He too was finding the miles long.  The Trail began to descend and I made a short detour to Angels Rest, a lookout over Pearisburg.  There I found the local Methodist retired men’s group and accompanied them for the remainder for the descent.  There were about seven of them.  They told me that a couple had been murdered at Wapiti II Shelter a few years ago!  The descent was slower than I expected and I didn’t get to the Pearisburg Post Office until after 3:00pm to find the running shoes Fran was supposed to have sent me hadn’t arrived.  My feet were very tired and I hurried out to the Catholic Hospice for AT hikers, 1½ miles out of town, had a shower, then quickly walked back into town.  I saw a small shop which sold KangaRoos running shoes, so mailed my boots back to Marj, then went and bought a pair – they were so good, the high school track team wore them according to the sales lady.  After checking both the supermarket and laundromat were open late, I went to the Dairy Queen and had a very late lunch before shopping and washing.  On the way back to the Hospice, I stopped at the Pizza Hut for dinner, but found myself very full.  Nevertheless, I bought a pint of ice-cream and ½ gallon of orange juice for later on my weary way home carrying washing and groceries and shoes and valuables.  Back at the Hospice I met brother and sister AT hikers, Charlie and Tricia, and spent until midnight repacking groceries, chatting, trying to ring Mark and Fran Binning and eating before going to bed.
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