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 089

Day:  089
Date:  Wednesday, 30 July 1986
Daily AT Miles:  23.6
Daily Other Miles:  0.9 (0.3 shelter, 0.6 restaurant).
Total AT Miles:  1746.2
Total All Miles:  1797.4
Weather:  Mild, overcast, fog and drizzle.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Cake and ice-cream, cookies.
  Dinner:  Noodles and sauce, instant pudding.
Aches:  None real bad.
Animals Seen:  3 snakes.
People Seen:  1 overnight hiker, some others.

Journal:
Got up at 5:30am after a good night’s sleep.  It had stopped raining.  I packed up and left at 7am, saying goodbye to the others who I’ll probably meet again in the White Mountains.  Everything was extremely wet and rain was forecast.  Fortunately, the Trail was easy and not overgrown.  A lot of it was on roads and woods roads and I made good time – I suspect the miles were short.  I climbed to the top of Smarts Mountain without a break.  It was very steep near the top and the Trail was extremely wet.  It was alpine-like at the top and quite cool and windy.  Fog prevented any views.  I descended down the difficult rocky and wet Trail and then had some more road-walking before the ascent of Mount Cube.  Another wet difficult ascent but, at least this time, I got occasional views through the blowing clouds – they were spectacular.  The descent was especially difficult and dangerous in the wet conditions.  I slipped and fell twice but suffered no damage.  I reached NH 25A at about 2pm and walked the ¼ mile to a small restaurant for lunch.  Unfortunately, pancakes were off at noon and they’d run out of apple pie, so I settled for two plates of cake and ice-cream and six big fresh cookies.  The manageress was very nice.  I left at 3:10pm to walk the remaining 7½ miles I’d planned.  More very wet Trail and hence feet.  Progress was a bit slower but at least more level.  It was through old forest, reclaimed farmland and past weekenders.  I stopped with three miles to go to find there’d been a relocation.  The distance was supposed to be the same but, of course, the new Trail was slow and I didn’t reach NH 25C till 6:40pm.  I crossed it, and then a stream, and found a good campsite on the other side amongst the pines.  I decided to try a fire despite everything being wet and was successful.  I set everything up as quickly as possible because of the forecast rain but, fortunately, it held off and it was a pleasant though hurried evening.  I went to bed at 8:50pm.
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