Hiker Triple Crown
In 2000, Robinson decided to take a six-month leave of absence from his job at Compaq and attempt the Pacific Crest Trail with his father Roy, who himself is a seasoned backpacker. Midway through the trip, Brian realized the Hiker Triple Crown might be achievable in a single year. [3]
Robinson completed the Triple Crown with support from his friends and family. Support for his pursuit ranged from notes of encouragement in trail registers, to regular food resupplies mailed to strategic points along the route, [3] and even a complete equipment replacement by a near-stranger after his backpack, containing most of his original gear, was lost. His father maintained a website with frequent updates from his daily journal and the most current photographs. During Robinson's travail, he overcame several emotional obstacles including having his pack misrouted during a bus transfer, discovering on September 12, 2001 that the US had been attacked, and encountering a woman that might have been "the one." [4] Because of his rapid hiking pace, his fellow through-hikers began calling him "Flyin' Brian", a trail name he continues to use. [5]
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the A.T., is a marked hiking trail in the Eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. The trail is about 2,200 miles (3,500 km) long, though the exact length changes over time as parts are rerouted or modified. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy describes the Appalachian Trail as the longest hiking-only trail in the world. More than 2 million people are said to take a hike on part of the trail at least once each year.
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie 100 to 150 miles east of the U.S. Pacific coast. The trail's southern terminus is just south of Campo, California by the U.S. border with Mexico, and its northern terminus is on the Canada–US border on the edge of Manning Park in British Columbia; it passes through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.
The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail is a United States National Scenic Trail with a length measured by the Continental Divide Trail Coalition of 3,028 miles (4,873 km) between the U.S. border with Chihuahua, Mexico and the border with Alberta, Canada. Frequent route changes and a large number of alternate routes result in the actual hiking distance to be between 2,700 miles (4,300 km) and 3,150 miles (5,070 km). The CDT follows the Continental Divide of the Americas along the Rocky Mountains and traverses five U.S. states — Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. In Montana near the Canadian border the trail crosses Triple Divide Pass (near Triple Divide Peak, from which waters may flow to either the Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean.
The John Muir Trail (JMT) is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. From the northern terminus at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley and the southern terminus located on the summit of Mount Whitney, the trail's length is 213.7 miles (343.9 km), with a total elevation gain of approximately 47,000 feet (14,000 m). For almost all of its length, the trail is in the High Sierra backcountry and wilderness areas. For about 160 miles (260 km), the trail follows the same footpath as the longer Pacific Crest Trail. It is named after John Muir, a naturalist.
Smarty Jones is a champion Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and came second in the Belmont Stakes.
Scott Gordon Jurek is an American ultramarathoner, author, and public speaker. Throughout his running career, Jurek was one of the most dominant ultramarathon runners in the world, winning the Hardrock Hundred (2007), the Badwater Ultramarathon, the Spartathlon, and the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run (1999–2005). In 2010, at the 24-Hour World Championships in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, Jurek won a silver medal behind Shingo Inoue and set a new US record for distance run in 24 hours with 165.7 miles. Jurek has followed a vegetarian diet since 1997, and a vegan diet since 1999.
Thru-hiking, or through-hiking, is the act of hiking an established end-to-end trail or long-distance trail with continuous footsteps in one direction.
Andrew Skurka is an American professional backpacker who is best known for his two long-distance hiking firsts—the 6,875-mile Great Western Loop and the 7,778-mile Sea-to-Sea Route. He was named the 2007 "Adventurer of the Year" by National Geographic Adventure and the 2005 "Person of the Year" by Backpacker magazine.
Scott Williamson is an American thru-hiker, most noted for being the first person to complete a continuous one-season round trip of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). He is also noted for his speed records for hiking the PCT.
This is a list of notable long-distance trails in the United States, with a minimum length of 30 miles.
The Triple Crown of Hiking informally refers to the three major U.S. long-distance hiking trails:
The Great Western Loop is a 6,875 miles (11,064 km) long hiking route that passes through several states of the western United States.
Josh Garrett is a vegan athlete and hiker. In 2013 he set a world record for the overall fastest known time for a thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, which traverses the American Cordillera of the United States from Campo, at the Mexican border, to Manning Park in British Columbia.
The Tahoe–Yosemite Trail (TYT) is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. The trail courses 186 miles (299 km) from Meeks Bay at Lake Tahoe to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. The trail is a foot and equestrian path that passes through the Desolation, Mokelumne, Carson-Iceberg, Emigrant, and Yosemite Wilderness Areas and the Meiss Country (Dardanelles) Roadless Area.
Timothy Olson is an American ultra-runner who holds the record for the Pacific Crest Trail in 51 days, 16 hours and 55 minutes. He won the Western States 100 in 2012 and 2013, including the former course record of 14 hours, 46 minutes and 44 seconds in 2012.
The Oregon Skyline Trail is a long-distance trail in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. The trail extends 428 miles (689 km) from Cascade Locks on the Columbia River south to Siskiyou Summit near the Oregon-California border. The century-old trail is a foot and equestrian path that passes through nine wilderness areas, Crater Lake National Park, and Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Historically known as the Oregon Skyline Trail or Skyline Trail, the entire length of the trail was incorporated into the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail in 1968.
Trevor Thomas is the world's only professional long-distance blind hiker who as of 2016 had hiked over 20,000 miles (32,000 km) solo. He was the first blind person to complete the Appalachian Trail on an unassisted solo hike in 2008. He hikes with a guide dog, and uses sophisticated digital technology, emailing his route to his phone to convert to audible sections, using echo location to identify obstacles, and having a satellite beacon which updates his Facebook page with his location every 10 minutes: if he is in the wrong place or not making the expected progress his expedition coordinator is alerted. He supports himself through speaking, writing, blogging and sponsorship, and has set up the Team FarSight Foundation to support young blind people in outdoor activities.
Elizabeth Thomas is a thru-hiking champion and former women's unassisted speed record holder for the 2,181-mile (3,510 km) Appalachian Trail. She holds the hiking "Triple Crown," having completed the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. She is the pioneer of the Chinook Trail in Washington and the Wasatch Range in Utah. She is Vice President of the American Long Distance Hiking Association-West, an ambassador for the American Hiking Society, and an outdoors writer for Wirecutter, a New York Times publication. She is also Editor-in-Chief of Treeline Review, a hiking gear publication. As of 2018, she completed 20 long-distance wilderness hikes.
The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation and management of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, a 2,650-mile hiking and equestrian trail in the western United States that runs through California, Oregon, and Washington. The southern terminus is in Campo, California at the Mexican border approximately 50 miles east of San Diego. The northern terminus is at the US - Canadian border at E.C. Manning Provincial Park, which lies just north of the border between Washington and British Columbia.
Bart Smith is an outdoor photographer who concentrates on documenting America's National Trails System. Over the course of more than 25 years, he became the first person to hike and photograph all of the 11 national scenic trails and to traverse all of the 19 national historic trails. The 30 national trails go through all 50 states, with a total mileage of more than 50,000 miles.
