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 086

Day:  086
Date:  Sunday, 27 July 1986
Daily AT Miles:  17.9
Daily Other Miles:  0.4 (motel)
Total AT Miles:  1684.4
Total All Miles:  1732.3
Weather:  Warm, humid, some rain, overcast.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Orange juice, oats, omelette, chips, sausages.
  Lunch:  None.
  Dinner:  Biscuits and peanut butter, oats.
Aches:  None bad.
Animals Seen:  None.
People Seen:  1 overnight hiker, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 9am after a good sleep and went and had a big breakfast before paying the bill and leaving at 10:50am.  It wasn’t raining, but looked ominous.  I had tried to ring John C twice without luck.  I was going to try for about 20 miles and do without lunch since my last biscuits would be required for dinner as all wood would be too wet for a cooked dinner.  The spirits were low as I left the comfortable indoors for the rough life.  I still seemed to be very tired and felt the need of a day off but must keep moving to meet Peter.  The Trail was very boggy and the undergrowth wet as I made my way around Kent Pond and, after a mile, I found the Inn I should have found last night.  Too bad.  There was some road-walking before a solid and wet climb up over a ridge and down the other side.  In places, the Trail was flooded by the adjacent creeks.  I divided the day into three six-mile sections and just plodded along trying not to think where I’d rather be, or about the weeks still to go.  There were some very tough climbs and very wet trails (rivers) through the pretty and wet forest.  At about 6pm it began raining very heavily and it looked like I would be setting up camp in the rain.  There were no Shelters within range.  The Trail had been re-routed so an expected spring wasn’t on the Trail.  I only had a bottle and a bit of water.  I reached the summit of Dana Hill and decided to stop at 6:40pm.  Fortunately, the rain had all but stopped as I set up camp.  I decided to get into bed and eat my dinner of biscuits and peanut butter and oats.  I ate it while listening to some excellent church choral music (it was Sunday) on my Walkman.  Lights out at 9pm.  Not a great day.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.
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