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 112

Day:  112
Date:  Friday, 22 August 1986.
Daily AT Miles:  7.2
Daily Other Miles:  5.2
Total AT Miles:  2145.3
Total All Miles:  2208.5
Weather:  Warm, cloudy and first, windy.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Muesli, health drink.
  Lunch:  Burgers, fries, ice-cream.
  Dinner:  ?
Aches:  Left Achilles.
Animals Seen:  4 moose.
People Seen:  16 day hikers, many others.

Journal:
We got up at 5am after a bad night’s sleep.  Jerry had been tossing and turning most of the night and shaking the whole shelter. It had rained most of the night but had now stopped.  We set off at 6:20am to walk to Katahdin – our last day on the Trail.  We were both quite excited, though we knew we had a tough climb in front of us.  In the first couple of miles the clouds started clearing and the scenery was beautiful – lakes, forests and Katahdin (still cloud-covered).  We surprised a cow moose and calf at very close range, but didn’t have time to get the camera out, and saw another couple of moose at a distance feeding in a lake. We reached Katahdin Stream Campground at 7:10am (Barb and I had camped there before) and began the big, our last, ascent. The Trail gradually became steeper and steeper, and the rocks became boulders.  We had both decided to take out full packs up, even though we didn’t need them (we were returning the same way later in the day), and this made the climbing very tricky in parts.  As we got higher the temperature became cooler and there was a biting strong wind.  We got into the clouds a few times, but they seemed to be breaking up as we went and we also got some good views.  Eventually, we reached the mountain’s summit plateau and walked 1½ miles across its rocky surface gradually, and then more steeply, up to the summit (5260’).  We collected some spring water en route for a summit toast.  It was very cold, though we were only lightly clad – shorts, T-shirts,Goretex rain jackets.  We reached the fog-covered summit at 10:15am and the Trail was officially finished.  We hung around for a while, toasting each other, eating a snack and picture-taking, before leaving at 11am.  It was too cold to stay longer but, between breaks in the clouds, we’d got superb views in all directions, so couldn’t complain.  The views continued throughout our descent above the tree-line – the pack still making boulder-hopping difficult.  Below the tree-line we were becoming weary and knees and feet were hurting.  We wanted to finish.  At 1:40pm, we arrived at Katahdin Stream Campground.  At the Ranger Office we found the AT Register and made our final entries.  I went for a quick swim in the absolutely freezing pond – much to the delight of a number of onlookers – and changed into clean (relatively) clothes.  Jerry asked a guy with a pick-up about a lift to Millinocket and the guy said he could give us a lift to the main road, which he did.  There, we only waited a few minutes before getting another lift into Millinocket – right to the door of a motel (with a stop at the Post Office for Jerry).  We checked in at 3:45pm and spent a relaxing rest of the day eating, watching TV and talking.  Rang Barb and found a bus went from Medway, 11 miles away, next morning at 9am.  Went to bed at 11:15pm. [Next day, I hitched to Medway and caught two buses back to Boston where I stayed with my aunt, Marj, until I flew back to Australia a week later.]
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