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 101

Day:  101
Date:  Monday, 11 August 1986.
Daily AT Miles:  16.0
Daily Other Miles:  1.0 (0.5 relocation, 0.5 to Shelter).
Total AT Miles:  1944.5
Total All Miles:  2001.0
Weather:  Cloudy and rain at first, clearing and warm later.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, health bars.
  Dinner:  Rice and shrimp creole sauce, pop tarts.
Aches:  None bad (feet look mouldy).
Animals Seen:  Grouse, squirrels.
People Seen:  24 overnight hikers.

Journal:
We got up at 5:30am to intermittent rain.  The Trail did not look inviting, but we set out at around 7:15am during a lull in the rain.  We first climbed Saddleback Mountain and reached the summit in a little under two hours.  The weather steadily improved on the way up and actually cleared briefly as we reached the summit.  John and I running up the last 100 feet or so in full packs to get some views must have looked amusing.  We did get some views, which were better than nothing, of vast tracts of forests, mountains and lakes.  For a while, the Trail followed the bare rocky crest, before descending.  En route, we climbed up the North Peak and Saddleback Junior, both demanding, before following an easier, though still boggy, ridge.  It began to rain a little at 11:45am, 15 minutes before we reached our planned lunch stop at Poplar Ridge Lean-To.  There we ate lunch and talked to the “born-again” “Wayfaring Man” who was hiking parts of the AT, and a mother and son hiking team, both knowledgeable on mountain climbing.  We left there just before 1pm with 7½ miles to go to our planned stop of Spaulding Mountain Lean-To, but conscious that there was a new “relo” (trail relocation) which purportedly added miles and was tough going.  We met a number of hikers headed towards Poplar Ridge Lean-To for the night and we joked that our target shelter would probably again be full of French-Canadians.  The “relo” was hard going, but paralleled a beautiful waterfall and some lovely brooks as well as passing through pretty forest.  To our surprise, we reached the Lean-To turn-off at 4:50pm and, despite a very rough trail, reached the Lean-To at 5:00pm.  It was full of French Canadians!  We had a good dinner then rested amidst the babble of French voices. John found it a bit wearing, and it certainly wasn’t quiet.  We went to bed at 8:45pm as the noise gradually subsided.
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