Dave Byrnes

Appalachian Trail - 1986

Overview Map Diary Pictures

Day:	046
Date:	Tuesday, 17 June 1986
Start:
Finish:
Daily AT Miles:	26.4
Daily Other Miles	0.3 (shelter)
Total AT Miles:	907.1
Total All Miles	935.1
Weather:	Mild, sunny.
Accommodation:
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Muesli, health drink. Lunch: Chilli, hamburger and fries. Dinner: Salad, chicken, fries and ice-cream.
Aches:	Back outside of both feet very sore.
Animals Seen:	Many deer, chipmunks, squirrels.
People Seen:	Two AT Thru-hikers, approximately 15 overnight hikers, many others.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:
Journal:	Got up at about 5:50am and got away at 7:20am. It was much cooler and promised to be a cool sunny day – good for hiking. The rear outside of both soles were still very sore, as though there were deep blisters, but I was loathe to push needles in any further. Once again the Trail had easy grades and was generally even. There were some parts where the nettles were quite bad. I hadn’t expected that in the Shenandoah National Park. The less humid weather meant less haze and therefore some of the best views for the trip so far – especially over the Shenandoah Valley. I put in four miles between breaks and thought about stopping at Big Meadows (where Barb and I had camped) for a second breakfast, but decided I didn’t need it , especially since I expected to be buying lunch and dinner. I stopped for a nice long break in the sun at the picnic area there while I worked out an itinerary to Delaware Water Gap, including 1½ days off in Front Royal. It seemed reasonable provided that the going wasn’t too bad. I was again nostalgic for the good old days in the van (gone forever) as I walked along parts of the AT I had run a couple of months ago. The 8 miles to Skyland seemed hard and the feet were sore – inexplicable mood swings. I arrived at 2:10pm and went to the restaurant at the Lodge for a reasonably-priced, not particularly good, meal (good chilli, though). On leaving, I met two AT Thru-hikers I must have passed in the morning – GEOKA (George and Karin). I chatted for a while. They had left on 15 April and I was the first person to catch them. It was then another 8 miles to Thornton Gap, including a couple of mountains and some more views. I arrived at the Panorama Restaurant at 6:40pm, discovered it closed at 7pm, and went straight in and ordered. It was a good meal and I was last to leave. I then had an easy uphill 1½ mile walk to reach Pass Mountain Hut where I arrived on a lovely evening at 8:10pm. Already in residence was Katherine, an English 30yo archaeologist who’d been living in Hanover, West Germany, for the last 7 years. Initially she was a little reserved, but later became very friendly. I went to bed at 9:30pm. Lots of fireflies again.