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 094

Day:  094
Date:  Monday, 4 August 1986
Daily AT Miles:  14.0
Daily Other Miles:  0.2 (from Shelter)
Total AT Miles:  1815.2
Total All Miles:  1868.9
Weather:  Mild, windy, mostly sunny.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli.
  Lunch:  Soup, Hershey chocolate.
  Dinner:  ?
Aches:  None.
Animals Seen:  Squirrels, chipmunks.
People Seen:  Many overnight and day hikers.

Journal:
We got up at 6am on what promised to be a good day for climbing and views.  We left at 7:15am for the first 3½ miles which were to be downhill to Crawford Notch before the big ascent up on to the Mount Washington massif (Presidential Range).  Peter was pretty worried about the climb.  We had to make reasonable progress to be at the AMC Lake of the Clouds Hut by 6pm for dinner.  My fears about our rate of progress were realised when Pete’s speed slowed dramatically on the steep climb from the Notch.  At our first break, I decided to take the food he was carrying plus the stove.  It seemed to do the trick and both his speed and spirits improved thereafter.  The rate of ascent wasn’t as great, either.  There were some superb views from the cliff-tops the Trail followed.  It was an excellent day for views.  From here, the Trail essentially followed a long spur towards the peak of Mount Washington (~6300’).  We reached the AMC Mizpah Hut more or less on schedule at 12:45pm and had lunch inside.  They had All-You-Can-Eat soup for $2 so I had that for lunch plus some chocolate.  We left there at 1:45pm for the remaining five miles.  We soon climbed above the tree-line and had more excellent views in all directions.  Pete was enjoying himself and we made good time, taking only one break before arriving at the Hut at 4:20pm.  It was very cold in the wind.  After a scare about not being able to get dinner, we checked in and went down to “the dungeon” (for backpackers) which wasn’t as bad as we’d been led to believe by Tom.  We then went up to the Hut dining area where 92 people were going to be served dinner. There were only six in the Hut “croo”!  It was lights out at 9:30pm, so we retired before then.  We were sharing “the dungeon” with Ruth, Bob, Ruth’s daughter and two others.
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