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 073

Day:  073
Date:  Monday, 14 July 1986
Daily AT Miles:  26.8
Daily Other Miles:  0.2 (spring).
Total AT Miles:  1420.0
Total All Miles:  1464.8
Weather:  Warm, partly cloudy.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Tuna salad roll, donuts, ice-cream.
  Dinner:  Broccoli soup, stuffed cabbage, ice-cream.
Aches:  4th toe on left foot sore and right lower back.
Animals Seen:  Deer, groundhogs, squirrels, chipmunks.
People Seen:  2 AT Thru-hikers, 2 AT Hikers (southbound by sections), 4 overnight hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 5:30am and left at 7am on a beautiful sunny morning with a big day ahead.  Everything was wet from rain and it was cool in the forest though promising to warm up.  The Trail was fairly easy going through the forest following ridges.  After nine miles (some of which seemed a bit long), I reached Morgan Stewart Shelter and met “Timber Jack” and “Professional Radical” (Carol) together with two young couples who I think they were travelling with for two days.  They were only having breakfast, having had a late rowdy night.  They were very friendly and I’ll probably see them again after my planned day off at Jayne’s.  I left and moved on 4½ miles to NY 55 where there was a large grocery.  I didn’t need any provisions, but went in to get some lunch and came out with a big tuna salad “hero” (roll), two donuts, a pint of ice-cream, a pint of chocolate milk and a can of Coke, all of which I consumed sitting on the pavement watching the world go by – one of my favourite occupations.  At 2pm, I set off for NY 22, 7½ miles away.  The first 3½ were quite pleasant road-walking (as had the last 1½ miles to NY 55). Apparently the National Parks Service have purchased an old nuclear reactor site nearby (where there had been an accident) to re-route the Trail, but there was local opposition to that and the compulsory acquisition of other necessary land.  After the road, the Trail again went through nice forest and across some attractive farmland before reaching NY 22 and the Quality Ridge Inn.  I reached there at 4:45pm, and dinner wasn’t served until 5:30pm but, with 6 miles to go to the Shelter, I thought I could afford the time.  I spent a pleasant 1½ hours sitting at the bar, drinking Coke, talking, eating and watching TV.  Before leaving, I called Jayne and confirmed a 6:30pm pick-up at Cornwall Bridge tomorrow night.  The six miles passed relatively easily (my feet are in much better shape) and I arrived at Wiley Shelter at 8:30pm.  A southbound by sections AT Hiker was in residence and possibly asleep. I set up camp, had a wash and retired at 9pm, updating the diary by torchlight before going to sleep.
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