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 046

Day:  046
Date:  Tuesday, 17 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  26.4
Daily Other Miles:  0.3 (shelter)
Total AT Miles:  907.1
Total All Miles:  935.1
Weather:  Mild, sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Chilli, hamburger and fries.
  Dinner:  Salad, chicken, fries and ice-cream.
Aches:  Back outside of both feet very sore.
Animals Seen:  Many deer, chipmunks, squirrels.
People Seen:  Two AT Thru-hikers, approximately 15 overnight hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at about 5:50am and got away at 7:20am.  It was much cooler and promised to be a cool sunny day – good for hiking. The rear outside of both soles were still very sore, as though there were deep blisters, but I was loathe to push needles in any further.  Once again the Trail had easy grades and was generally even.  There were some parts where the nettles were quite bad.  I hadn’t expected that in the Shenandoah National Park.  The less humid weather meant less haze and therefore some of the best views for the trip so far – especially over the Shenandoah Valley.  I put in four miles between breaks and thought about stopping at Big Meadows (where Barb and I had camped) for a second breakfast, but decided I didn’t need it , especially since I expected to be buying lunch and dinner.  I stopped for a nice long break in the sun at the picnic area there while I worked out an itinerary to Delaware Water Gap, including 1½ days off in Front Royal.  It seemed reasonable provided that the going wasn’t too bad.  I was again nostalgic for the good old days in the van (gone forever) as I walked along parts of the AT I had run a couple of months ago.  The 8 miles to Skyland seemed hard and the feet were sore – inexplicable mood swings.  I arrived at 2:10pm and went to the restaurant at the Lodge for a reasonably-priced, not particularly good, meal (good chilli, though).  On leaving, I met two AT Thru-hikers I must have passed in the morning – GEOKA (George and Karin).  I chatted for a while.  They had left on 15 April and I was the first person to catch them.  It was then another 8 miles to Thornton Gap, including a couple of mountains and some more views.  I arrived at the Panorama Restaurant at 6:40pm, discovered it closed at 7pm, and went straight in and ordered.  It was a good meal and I was last to leave.  I then had an easy uphill 1½ mile walk to reach Pass Mountain Hut where I arrived on a lovely evening at 8:10pm.  Already in residence was Katherine, an English 30yo archaeologist who’d been living in Hanover, West Germany, for the last 7 years.  Initially she was a little reserved, but later became very friendly.  I went to bed at 9:30pm.  Lots of fireflies again.
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