Do you really want to speed through Damascus? Photo: Johnny Molloy
It didn’t take long for the ex-college tennis player from Birmingham’s Samford University to realize she wasn’t going to drop off the trail. The lithe and leggy Davis soon realized that she could hike longer than her thru-hiking counterparts — and have a shorter recovery time the next day. At night, while lying in her tent inventorying aches and pains, Jennifer couldn’t wait for the challenges the A.T. would throw at her the following day.
In a simple twist of fate during that thru-hike she walked into David Horton, world class trail runner. In 1991, Horton set the then Appalachian Trail speed hike record of 52 days (the current record is 47 days, 13 hours, 31 minutes). Their brief conversation left her in amazement of Horton’s trail running prowess. Next day, still northbound in Virginia woods, she ran into Horton again. A longer conversation followed. Davis learned Horton was training to set the speed hiking record for the Pacific Crest Trail.
The seed was planted. In 2008, Davis set the women’s record for a supported thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail – 57 days, 8 hours.
What makes people like Jennifer Davis and David Horton want to speed hike a long trail? Why do they reduce what is to most people the adventure of a lifetime into a race against the clock, where overlooks become blurs and spur trails to waterfalls are skipped entirely? Why do they want to be the fastest?
What is the hurry? Why don’t they stop and smell the wildflowers? What about campfire camaraderie with their fellow thru-hikers? What about appreciating the incredible mosaic of natural beauty strung along the spine of the Appalachians?
Benton MacKaye, the man who envisioned the Appalachian Trail, didn’t foresee this. Fact is, he didn’t visualize thru-hikers at all. He saw the A.T. as a local hiking getaway for weary townsfolk to escape city life. It wasn’t built for thru hikers. Appalachian Trail purists shudder at these speed records and the people who set them, and the people who subsequently try to break them. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy highlights “Noteworthy 2,000 Milers,” including the oldest thru-hiker, first female thru-hiker, and youngest section hiker. However, nowhere do they mention “fastest thru hiker.”
Speed hikers are de facto trail runners. Speed hiking and trail running are rising in popularity. Maybe it is reflective of our times. We hurry to finish work, so we can hurry to get in our trail run, so we can hurry to get home to our favorite television show, so we can hurry and visit Facebook before we hurry to bed. That way we can get plenty of rest in order to hurry through the next day.
The trail runner might tell you that running on a wooded pathway is more aesthetically pleasing than running along an exhaust-choked street. Or they might tell you running on natural surface trails is better for your feet and knees than running on asphalt or concrete. Trail running is arguably a more efficient way to cover more trail miles than is walking, hiking, or backpacking.
And if you like trail running and you like the Appalachian Trail, why not combine your likes and run the Appalachian Trail?
Record-setting speed hikers often need help reaching their goal. A support team, usually the friend, spouse, or parent of the aspiring record setter, meets them at trail road crossings to help feed and shelter them, so the hopeful hikers can travel unencumbered. Therefore, records set by this group are “supported” thru-hikes.
Others do it all on their own, carrying their food, clothing and camping gear, and organizing their own resupply. This is a different record category – “unsupported” thru-hikes. The record unsupported thru-hike is 60 days. Unsupported thru-hikes don’t have a crew or any outside help, but these unofficial rules get murky. Can an unsupported thru-hiker accept a candy bar from a friend, or a ride to the post office to pick up his resupply package?
A major advantage of thru-hiking as a sport is its diversity of dogmas. There are as many opinions on the best way to thru-hike as there are thru hikers. No rulebooks on how to hike exist like in basketball or football. And that’s where the oft-repeated phrase comes in: “hike your own hike.”
So if Jennifer Davis wants to set a record for speed hiking the Appalachian Trail, let her. She’s hiking her own hike. If folks want to take a crack at the unsupported thru-hike record, let them.
Just get out of the way when they blow by.