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 064

Day:  064
Date:  Saturday, 5 July 1986
Daily AT Miles:  6.5
Daily Other Miles:  2.0 (around town)
Total AT Miles:  1258.1
Total All Miles:  1296.5
Weather:  Hot, humid, hazy.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, eggs, sausages.
  Lunch:  Turkey sandwich, ice-cream.
  Dinner:  Chicken, vegetables, ice-cream.
Aches:  Pain next to big toe on right foot.
Animals Seen:  Squirrels, chipmunks.
People Seen:  5 overnight hikers, 2 day hikers, many others.

Journal:
I got up at 5:30am and left at about 6:50am for the 6½ miles into Delaware Water Gap.  I passed a few other campers in the first few miles and then began descending into the Delaware Water Gap with good views over the Delaware River and its gorge en route.  It was already warm and obviously going to be a hot day.  The Trail improved as it became one used by day hikers to get to the look-outs.  Just before Delaware Water Gap it passed a beautiful lily pond.  Delaware Water Gap turned out to be a pretty, historic, art and craft town nestled amongst the hills.  I found the Presbyterian Church and its Hostel underneath straight away and checked it out.  Very good – shower, lounge, dormitory, radio, fridge, clean towels and nobody in residence.  I went down to the Post Office and collected my mail and met Hilda, the elderly volunteer caretaker for the Hostel.  She soon turned up at the Hostel with a key for me to use.  I went to a café and had a second breakfast while reading my mail, including a letter from Syntec (my former employer) offering me an attractive three-year contract for when I returned to Australia, two letters from Barb and one from Pam.  After breakfast, I bought groceries and returned to the Hostel.  I decided against the 40 minute bus trip to Stroudsburg and did my laundry by hand.  Back at the cool Hostel, I wrote a letter to Barb, did the laundry, and then went to a nearby pub for lunch at 2pm.  There was baseball on the TV, but the place was noisy and smoky so I returned to the Hostel after lunch and launched into writing a stack of postcards after ringing my cousin, Gordon, and informing him of my impending arrival in his neighbourhood.  During the evening an AT Thru-hiker and his girlfriend turned up – they had hitched back after a week hiking north together.  We chatted a while.  At 10:30pm I rang Marj, then retired at 11pm.  A pleasant relaxing day.  Tried to ring Barb without luck a couple of times.
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