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 076

Day:  076
Date:  Thursday, 17 July 1986
Daily AT Miles:  20.7
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  1464.6
Total All Miles:  1509.4
Weather:  Very warm, humid, overcast.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Toast and jam, ice-cream.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, Snickers Bar.
  Dinner:  Snickers Bar, instant pudding.
Aches:  Right foot blister again, hips chafed.
Animals Seen:  Chipmunks, small snake.
People Seen:  2 day hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 8am and had some breakfast with Jayne and her parents.  We took our time and left at 9:45am to drive me back to Cornwall Bridge from Granby.  We arrived at 11am and, after going to the Post Office, I bought some ice-cream and chocolate milk before moving off on a warm humid day with approximately 20 miles to go to my target campsite.  No fires allowed in Connecticut, so I knew I would be eating cold for dinner and hence could arrive late.  The Trail started by following a lane up to the crest of a ridge and then, for the rest of the day, was fairly easy going through pretty forest – some deciduous, some conifer, with a pine needle-covered floor.  Occasionally, there was some nice road-walking and, though there was pretty scenery, there were only a few views.  It was very pleasant except for the mosquitoes – I’m afraid I’m going to run out of repellent.  I had lunch at 3pm in a picnic area en route and then walked approximately 12 miles to Deans Ravine, one of the designated camp areas, where I arrived at 8:15pm.  It was already getting dark as I hurriedly collected and purified water from the stream which flowed through the beautiful valley, ate a skimpy dinner, put up my tent and tarpaulin (40% chance of rain), and had a wash before getting into bed at 9:30pm.  Updated diary and went to sleep at 10pm.  A bit worried that the old blister between my right big toe and second toe is sore again.  Spent a lot of the day pre-occupied with reaching the end, having decided the likely completion date will be August 21st and having spent a day at Jayne’s and seeing all the comforts I’m forgoing was unsettling.  I think I was lucky the Trail wasn’t harder today.
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