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 077

Day:  077
Date:  Friday, 18 July 1986
Daily AT Miles:  23.3
Daily Other Miles:  0.4 (0.2 to spring, 0.2 to Shelter)
Total AT Miles:  1487.9
Total All Miles:  1533.1
Weather:  Very warm, humid, partly cloudy.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Omelette, sausages, fries, orange juice, ice-cream.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, candy bar.
  Dinner:  Noodles and vegetables, instant pudding.
Aches:  Right foot, chafing.
Animals Seen:  2 small snakes, deer, grouse, chipmunks, squirrels.
People Seen:  5 AT-Thru-hikers (1 by sections), 2 day hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 6:30am to give myself eight hours sleep and packed up and left by 7:30am without breakfast because there was a diner just up the Trail.  Although only two miles, it included a tough climb over Barrack Mountain.  At the diner, I had a large breakfast before setting off for the remainder of what promised to be a hot humid day.  Initially, there was a fair bit of road-walking as the Trail crossed back to the west bank of the Housatonic.  As usual, I didn’t really mind the road-walk since I made better time and there were things to look at along the way.  After the road, the Trail began climbing into the mountains and progress slowed.  It was nice scenery in the forest, but marred by the hot humid weather which left me constantly sweating, and the bugs, especially mozzies, which tormented me.  The sweat was washing off the repellent and I began to wonder if I would run out.  Life wasn’t very pleasant.  To top it off, the old blister next to the right big toe was hurting again and causing me to walk awkwardly.  The views from the mountains were reduced by the heavy haze.  I stopped for a late lunch at Sage’s Ravine, a beautiful shady glen.  After that I pushed on another seven miles of slow progress over two mountains (Race and Everett) passing en route AT Thru-hikers, Stan and Linda Brooks, who were camped by the Trail.  A Connecticut AMC ridge-runner at Sage’s Ravine had told me of a new Shelter, Glenbrook, which was my target.  I eventually arrived there at 7:10pm to find already in residence “The Man Who Dares”, “Appalachian Al”, and Roy (all northbound, Roy by sections).  They were really nice guys and we had a good chat.  I was amused by “The Man Who Dares” wearing pyjamas (and slippers) to bed, and apparently being accompanied much of the time by his father in a Recreation Vehicle.  I went to bed at 9pm, a little worried about the warm night and bugs.
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