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 098

Day:  098
Date:  Friday, 8 August 1986
Daily AT Miles:  19.4
Daily Other Miles:  0.3
Total AT Miles:  1886.2
Total All Miles:  1941.7
Weather:  Warm, humid, overcast, some rain.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, 2 health bars.
  Dinner:  Biscuits and peanut butter, health bar, instant pudding.
Aches:  None bad.
Animals Seen:  Grouse, squirrels.
People Seen:  1 AT Thru-hiker (southbound), 3 overnight hikers, 1 other.

Journal:
Got up at 5:30am with the prospect of a long hard day through the Mahoosucs so as to be within range of my rendezvous with John tomorrow morning.  I was already doubting the wisdom of my schedule.  I set out a bit before 7am and climbed up on to Goose Mountain.  I was rewarded with fantastic views in all directions.  Vast forests, some lakes, and peaks poking through the clouds.  All could be seen from the bare summits.  Rocks were slippery and the muddy slopes treacherous as I continued north towards Mahoosuc Notch.  The descent was hair-raising.  On reaching the Notch, I entered the supposed toughest mile on the Trail.  It involved scrambling over, around, and under huge rocks which had tumbled to the bottom of the gorge some time past. Near the bottom, the temperature was distinctly cooler and in crevasses could be seen snow and ice.  I took just over an hour to negotiate the extremely strenuous stretch, then had to climb the Mahoosuc Arm of Old Speck Mountain.  It was a tough climb and no view at the top because of fog.  Progress was very slow as I pushed on to Old Speck Pond and the Shelter there for a 2pm lunch.  There was a French-Canadian hiker there having a day off to dry some wet gear.  She was an artist from Montreal and very friendly and I felt more than a little encouraged to stay for the night.  However, I needed to press on.  The Trail then climbed steeply up Old Speck Mountain (no views again because of fog) before plunging steeply into Grafton Notch – the end of the Mahoosucs.  It was getting late, and I was very tired but, after a brief rest,, started climbing the next mountain in my path, Bald Pate.  I crossed the summit soon after 7pm.  It was a barren forbidding place in thick fog and I didn’t hang around.  The last few miles took longer than I expected and it was fairly dark by the time I reached Frye Notch Shelter at 8:40pm.  There was no-one there, although there was some discarded camping gear around, and the very loud thunderstorm that arrived at the same time as I did, lit up the place spookily.  I had a quick cold dinner by candlelight before retiring at 9:30pm.
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