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 071

Day:  071
Date:  Saturday, 12 July 1986.
Daily AT Miles:  13.7
Daily Other Miles:  1.8 (1.5 to café, 0.3 to Monastery)
Total AT Miles:  1374.4
Total All Miles:  1418.7
Weather:  Mild, overcast, raining mostly.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli.
  Lunch:  2 cheeseburgers, fries.
  Dinner:  Hamburgers, salad, fruit.
Aches:  Right knee sore.
Animals Seen:  Deer (including fawns), squirrels, chipmunks.
People Seen:  2 AT Thru-hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 6am after some showers during the night and almost immediately it began to rain steadily. I ate breakfast and packed up in the rain keeping things as dry as I could.  A few things got damp but nothing too bad.  It was the first tent pack up in the rain, so I suppose I have been lucky.  I set off along the muddy path (in some cases “river”) and steadily walked the six miles to Bear Mountain Inn passing over West Mountain and Bear Mountain en route.  No views because of the weather.  I arrived at the Inn at 10:10am to find the café, where I had planned to spend a few hours, closed.  I found a covered area in front of the toilets and spent 1½ hours writing my reply to Syntec’s job offer standing up at a wall and getting colder and colder.  Shivering, by the end.  I then walked, in the rain, up to the Post Office which was closed, then back to the now-open café where I had some lunch.  It was a big place, filled mostly with blacks whose picnics had been spoiled by the rain.  They were noisy and happy. After lunch, I went to the Inn lobby and left the Syntec letter with them.  I also called Clio, but she couldn’t give me a time when she could meet up, but wanted me to call back tomorrow.  She said she could perhaps make it Monday night.  I’ll probably ring her, though I’ve a few long days ahead of me.  I left the Inn at 1:10pm and walked through the picnic area and zoo (foxes, bears, raccoons) en route to the Bear Mountain Bridge which I used to cross the big Hudson River.  We had driven across it with Rod and Tracey just three months ago – seemed ages.  The rain had more or less stopped as I climbed up to the ridges on the north-east side – a landmark passed.  The Trail was reasonable, the weather cool, and I was in good spirits walking along, singing with my Walkman, and a short afternoon in prospect.  I arrived at Graymoors Franciscan Monastery at 4:30pm and was met by the kindly Father Bosco who arranged a room for me.  I had a shower and went down to dinner at 5:30pm where I met Bob and Jennifer, also AT Thru-hikers, who’d spent the day there because of rain.  Jennifer was walking around the Monastery in short shorts which I’m sure would have been a little distracting to the monks.  They told me about their encounter with the psycho “Fighter Pilot” on the Trail who had threatened to kill them and had harassed them for a few days in New Jersey.  Glad I missed him.  After an ample dinner, I went to my room and wrote a letter before going down to a small lounge to watch TV.  At 9pm I found a Michael Douglas movie called “Running” which was interesting but far-fetched.
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