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 109

Day:  109
Date:  Tuesday, 19 August 1986.
Daily AT Miles:  23.4
Daily Other Miles:  0
Total AT Miles:  2091.8
Total All Miles:  2149.8
Weather:  Mild, rain in the morning, overcast.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Biscuits and peanut butter, candy bars.
  Dinner:  Biscuits and peanut butter, instant pudding, candy bars.
Aches:  Crutch chafing.
Animals Seen:  2 moose, pheasant.
People Seen:  13 overnight hikers.

Journal:
Got up at 5am and left at 6:30am thinking that, if I got a good run, I might make the 29 miles to Potaywadjo Spring Shelter. There was a fine drizzle and fog as I set off up the slippery Trail towards the summit of Whitecap Mountain (3600’).  A lot of wet undergrowth was overhanging the Trail and I was soon soaked through.  The going was very slow and it took me 3½ hours of solid walking to reach Logan Brook Lean-To, seven miles away, where I had my first break.  There were no views from the bleak summit of Whitecap Mountain.  In the shelter was Kacy (and boyfriend), the solo girl hiker I’d just missed catching in the Green Mountains in Vermont.  She had since skipped New Hampshire!  I pressed on down the mountain making slightly better progress and took another break next to a pretty pond after another 5½ miles.  During the break, Jerry caught me.  We’d said good-bye this morning as he hadn’t been going to go as far as me today, but had obviously changed his mind.  We walked another three miles along a boggy and sometimes hilly Trail through mossy forest to a lake where we had lunch at about 2pm.  We then walked on to the very attractive Cooper Brook Falls Lean-To and were tempted to stay, but I wanted to push on so as to be in a position to reach Dacey Pond, at the base of Katahdin, by Thursday night.  After another five miles, we stopped in a damp, almost swampy, area near a spring and set up our tents.  Wet wood so I had another cold dinner.  Today was a bit of a trudge and I’m looking forward to finishing.  Went to bed at 8:15pm and updated my diary in the tent.
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