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 035

Day:  035
Date:  Friday, 6 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  30.4
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  661.9
Total All Miles:  685.5
Weather:  Hot, very humid, rain in the morning, partly cloudy.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, health bar.
  Dinner:  Biscuits and peanut butter, instant pudding.
Aches:  Both feet, very tired.
Animals Seen:  Two snakes, two tortoises, deer, turkey, chipmunks.
People Seen:  Two AT Thru-hikers (one southbound)

Journal:
Got up at 6:00am and away by 7:10am.  Spending less time treating feet. Stu a bit slower to start.  I wanted to see how far I could get so that I would have a chance of reaching Troutville on Sunday lunchtime and so have ½ a day off.  The weather was steamy and by the time I had climbed to Bailey Gap Shelter I was absolutely soaked.  From there, what looked level on the map was, but required constant boulder scrambling which was very tedious.  After the boulders I met Sonny Daze, a southbound Thru-Hiker, who I chatted to for a while.  He explained some confusing trail marking up ahead.  There followed a steep descent then and even longer steep ascent up to Big Pond Shelter in the rain.  It was extremely humid and there were lots of bugs out biting me on the ankles.  Although my shoes were not giving me blisters, the right one kept coming off and both kept swallowing my socks which was very annoying when the Trail was tough enough anyway.  After Big Pond Shelter, there was another long descent, a stretch through farmland and along a road, then a tough climb up to a ridge.  I met another black snake on the ridge as I struggled along trying to get the miles in.  Progress was slow along the ridge in the late afternoon sun.  It was very rocky in most parts, but enabled good views down to the right.  I reached the turn-off to Sarver’s Cabin (0.3 miles steeply down) after 24 miles and, although tired, decided to press on.  I eventually reached Niday Shelter at 8:50pm in the late evening gloom to find Jack, from NY, already in bed.  I hurriedly washed and ate cold by candlelight before getting into bed at 10:30pm.  There were a lot of bugs in the shelter and my feet were sore so I didn’t have a very good night.  A new ThermaRest mattress would be nice (the present one has a puncture).  My first, and maybe last, 30+ mile day.
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