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 049

Day:  049
Date:  Friday, 20 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  0
Daily Other Miles:  0.4 (to store)
Total AT Miles:  940.1
Total All Miles:  969.4
Weather:  Warm, humid, cloudy.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Eggs, sausages, scones.
  Lunch:  Burgers, fries, shake.
  Dinner:  Trout, vegetables, ice-cream.
Aches:
Animals Seen:
People Seen:  Many

Journal:
Got up at about 8:30am and, after a shower, wandered across the road to the restaurant for breakfast.  After breakfast, I spent a few hours sewing my Australian flags on my pack.  It was a slow job and at 12:30pm I knocked off and walked up the road to get burgers for lunch again.  After lunch, I finished my sewing chores and decided not to bother walking the mile to the laundry, but did my own washing by hand.  The afternoon went quickly – I didn’t get the letters written I had planned on.  I rang theBinnings before going to tea and arranged to ring them again in the morning re a possible Sunday meeting.  Had another excellent dinner and adjourned to my room to catch up on my badly over-due diary.  Tried to ring Barb a number of times unsuccessfully.  Stayed up to 1am watching Aussie Rules on ESPN.  It wasn’t a bad game with North Melbourne just pipping Sydney.  Rang Barb at 11pm and got Ngaire – Barb’s away for the weekend.
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