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 043

Day:  043
Date:  Saturday, 14 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  23.0
Daily Other Miles:  0.5 (Blue Ridge Parkway Visitors Centre)
Total AT Miles:  832.7
Total All Miles:  859.0
Weather:  Warm, mostly sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli.
  Lunch:  Soup, burger, ice-cream.
  Dinner:  Omelette, potato skins, ice-cream.
Aches:  Blisters on both heels, wasp sting on left wrist.
Animals Seen:  Turkey, snake, fawn, rabbit, chipmunks, squirrels.
People Seen:  One overnight hiker, six day hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 5:50am when Pete woke me – he and Ridgerunner got up at 5:30am.  I was underway at 7am – my earliest yet.  I anticipated that the Trail would be easy and mainly downhill for the 17 miles to Rockfish Gap.  Because I wasn’t carrying much food, I hoped that it would be a quick trip and that I would be in the Howard Johnsons Restaurant in the Gap soon after 1pm for lunch.  However, much of the Trail was very slow going.  Some of it was through chest-high grass, nettles and weeds just out of sight of the Blue Ridge Parkway, some of it was steep and some of it wound around and over rocks.  There were occasional good views from rocky outcrops but many of the hills again offered nothing for the strenuous climb.  I caught and passed both Peter and Ridgerunner who had similar opinions about the Trail.  After a slow 10 miles, I called in at the Humpback Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Centre and called Mark to alter our meeting place for tomorrow to the Loft Mountain Picnic Area which would mean I could have the arvo off.  I replenished water and continued along the Trail which remained the same.  I did, however, surprise a fawn sitting on the path and got a very good look at it.  Eventually, I arrived at Rockfish Gap at 3:15pm and went straight to the restaurant for a late lunch.  I bought a pint of ice-cream for dessert and ate it sitting under a tree on the grass near the highway reading the Washington Post.  Peter turned up and we chatted for a while.  Like everybody else, he was headed into Waynesboro for a few days R & R.  I visited the adjacent service station to see if they had food suitable for dinner.  They didn’t.  I bought a few cakes for tomorrow’s breakfast and a couple of cans of Coke and returned to the grass to pass another hour before having an early dinner at the same restaurant.  Ridgerunner turned up.  They were surprised to see me back in the restaurant at 5:45pm.  I had dinner, bought another pint of ice-cream, and hit the Trail at 6:40pm, hoping to reach Calf Mountain Shelter, 7.2 miles away.  I stopped and ate the ice-cream after half an hour and pressed on during a lovely evening on quite a good Trail.  At 9pm, atop Calf Mountain, I called it quits and quickly set up camp.
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