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 042

Day:  042
Date:  Friday, 13 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  20.0
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  809.7
Total All Miles:  835.5
Weather:  Mild, mostly sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, Quik.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter.
  Dinner:  Various left-overs, macaroni cheese.
Aches:  Both heels blistered.
Animals Seen:  Grouse and chicks, chipmunk.
People Seen:  Seven overnight hikers, some AT Thru-Hikers, some others.

Journal:
Got up at 6am and all the others left before I got away at 7:40am.  My intention was to hike 20 miles plus make a trip into Tyro, 1¼ miles off the Trail, for food.  The Trail was quite pleasant through forest with the weather cooler and the pack lighter.  I stopped for morning break and finished my letter to Pete & Chris.  The Trail then ascended over a mountain called The Priest. On the way up, I met a black guy who had been staying in the nearby Shelter.  I later discovered he was a novice in the bush and weka had arrived after dark at his Shelter to find him huddled up with a revolver “sorting out a few problems”.  Weka had a sleepless night and an early departure.  Annoyingly, there wasn’t much of a view from the top – another AT bummer.  There was then a very long descent to the Tye River and the road to Tyro.  I sat beside the road to hitch-hike and decided I probably had enough food to get me to the Loft Mountain Campground in Shenandoah National Park so couldn’t be bothered walking to the Tyro store.  I spent half an hour thumbing in the sun and, after no success, gave it away and began climbing the mountain on the other side.  I stopped for lunch at the attractive Harpers Creek Lean-To before climbing on up to Three Ridges.  There was a short-cut – that Pete and Stu took – to Maupin Shelter that avoided the arduous climb to Three Ridges.  It wasn’t so steep, just rocky, winding and covered with nettles.  What’s more, you couldn’t see anything from the top.  There followed a 3 mile descent to Maupin Shelter where I arrived at 6:15pm to find Peter, Weka, and a family group of six.  They had extra food after just finishing dinner, so the three of us finished off an assortment of stew, chilli and chocolate pudding – very nice.  Another pleasant evening – fire already going.
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