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 050

Day:  050
Date:  Saturday, 21 June 1986
Daily AT Miles:  17.5
Daily Other Miles:  0.9 (0.5 in Front Royal, 0.2 store, 0.2 shelter)
Total AT Miles:  957.6
Total All Miles:  987.8
Weather:  Very warm, sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Eggs, sausages, scones.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, health bar.
  Dinner:  Fettucine, pop tarts.
Aches:  Toes a bit sore.
Animals Seen:  Squirrels.
People Seen:  1 AT Thru-hiker, 1 day hiker, many others.

Journal:
Got up ay 7:50am and had a shower.  At 8am, the Aussie Rules match came back on ESPN so I needn’t have stayed up so late. I rang Mark and arranged to meet him at Keys Gap Shelter at 5pm tomorrow night for dinner.  After breakfast, I finished packing and departed at 9:10am.  I walked ½ a mile to a good hitching place and stood there, on a pleasant sunny day, for ½ an hour before getting a lift to Linden.  It was amazing how many women in cars slow a little, look at you and obviously think about picking you up, only to reject the idea as risky.  I went to the Post Office, did some mailing, and then went to a grocery store for a pint of milk and a chocolate ice-cream.  I headed off at 11:10am.  The Trail at first followed a road before entering the woods.  It was fairly easy going and I made good time.  Where the Trail crossed Ashby Gap during the afternoon, I walked up the road 200m to a restaurant which had a phone and called Marj in case I didn’t get another opportunity.  She was quite chatty. After a milkshake I left and walked the remaining 3½ miles to Rod Hollow Shelter, my goal for the day.  There was no-one there and the Shelter was excellent – brand new with a pavilion for eating and cooking, and a good piped spring with a facility for showers. At about 7:30pm, another AT hiker (by sections), Uncle Al, turned up.  He’d hiked a 100 miles further south and could fill me in on the progress of a few people I knew.  In 1984, he had hiked from Georgia to Massachusetts, but then his wife had asked him to come home.  This year he planned to hike Virginia to Maine.  He was useful with information about the Trail in Pennsylvania.  I went to bed at 9:30pm.
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