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 106

Day:  106
Date:  Saturday, 16 August 1986.
Daily AT Miles:  9.0
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  2029.2
Total All Miles:  2087.2
Weather:  Some rain, mostly fine.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, eggs, toast, orange juice.
  Lunch:  Burger, fries, ice-cream.
  Dinner:  Steak, vegetables, cake, ice-cream.
Aches:  None bad.
Animals Seen:  None.
People Seen:  2 AT Thru-hikers, 1 AT Hiker (southbound, by sections), 5 overnight hikers, many others.

Journal:
Got up at 5am and packed and ate quickly and left at 6:15am, just after a brief shower of rain.  It was very gloomy.  I decided to just walk the nine miles into Monson non-stop and hopefully get there early enough to ring both Marj and Barb.  The Trail through the forest was mainly on old logging tracks and was wet and boggy, but there were long sections on the road where I could keep the pace going.  I got into the outskirts of Monson, on a big lake, at about 9:15am and immediately found Shaw’s Boarding House, where I planned to stay.  I went in and the diminutive operator, Keith (and his wife, Patty), told me I was in time for breakfast and could make my calls from their phone.  I checked in, had my big breakfast, rang Marj (ticket had arrived) and Barb before having a shower.  I then went downtown, collected my mail and did my shopping.  Among others at the hostel were Jerry (who I had hiked with in New Jersey, and who was apparently waiting in Monson for me to catch up) and “Shutterbug” (Geoff).  We went down to the only restaurant in town for lunch and I read my mail.  It included a letter fromSyntec painting a less-rosy picture of the job they were proposing to me.  I was a bit annoyed, but not surprised.  During the afternoon I ate, watched baseball on TV, read the paper and did my laundry.  Also in residence was Bob Barker, an MS sufferer, and an insufferable bore.  After dinner I went for a walk around town with Jerry and Geoff before returning to watch TV until retiring about 10:30pm.  During the day, Bo had rung to say they would meet me on Monday for lunch.
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