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 081

Day:  081
Date:  Tuesday, 22 July 1986
Daily AT Miles:  16.1
Daily Other Miles:  1.0 (to laundry and supermarket)
Total AT Miles:  1572.6
Total All Miles:  1619.2
Weather:  Very warm, sunny, moderately humid.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Porridge, scrambled eggs.
  Lunch:  Burgers, fries, donuts.
  Dinner:  Fettucine, instant pudding.
Aches:  Right little toe extremely sore.
Animals Seen:  Chipmunks.
People Seen:  1 day hiker, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 7am and was still undecided whether to try and ring Barb or not.  Had breakfast at the long table again and decided to ring, which I did at 8am.  Found out I’m booked to fly out on August 30th, arriving in Melbourne on September 1st.  I finished packing and left at 9am with the plan of hiking down to North Adams, seven miles away, to do laundry and shopping.  Outside the Lodge, I met the two AT Thru-hikers from yesterday again.  The trip down the mountain was hard on the feet but provided some good views and pleasant walking on a perfect day.  I had to walk ½ a mile off the Trail to the laundry and supermarket, and left my laundry going and pack there while I did my shopping.  I returned to the laundry and repacked my groceries while the laundry dried.  After that, I walked down to a hamburger joint and had lunch.  Met the two AT Thru-hikers again, and chatted while eating.  I left at 1:45pm with 14½ miles to go to my planned Shelter, which meant I would be late.  As the Trail climbed up into the mountains, my little toe on right foot began hurting a bit.  I reached the Vermont border with the pain becoming severe for no apparent reason.  There didn’t seem to be a blister.  I tried a few things and continued walking, but painfully and with a limp.  I decided that I would have to stop around 7pm and get my shoes off.  I filled my water bottles at a spring and found a small campsite near a beaver pond and stopped at 6:50pm.  The fire was slow and I didn’t get into the tent until 9:10pm.  I was short by 4½ miles of my target and desperately hoping the toe would be better tomorrow, otherwise I would fall further behind.  I hope it’s not an infection.
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