Five-Star Trails: Asheville

Overall Appalachian Trail speed record holder, Jennifer Pharr Davis, released her brand new hiking guide book today.

Five-Star Trails Asheville: Your Guide to the Area's Most Beautiful Hikes explores the best 35 trails in and around Asheville, NC. The book provides in-depth trails descriptions, directions, and commentary on what to expect along the way. Each hike features an individual trail map, elevation profile, and at-a-glance information, helping readers quickly find the perfect hike while in the Asheville area.

Sized to fit in a pocket, the book's detailed trail descriptions will help readers find their way on and off the trail. Driving directions and GPS trailhead coordinates will help with navigating the myriad of unnamed roads. The trails covered range from those best suited to the novice, families, experienced hikers, or backpackers.

Jennifer is also the author of Becoming Odyssa: Adventures on the Appalachian Trail and Best Hikes Near Charlotte.



Jeff
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Jennifer Pharr Davis is one of National Geographic's nominees for Adventurer of the Year

"Clingmans Dome in Tennessee. I got there just after sunset. There was this afterglow in the Smokies. You could see the lights of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Usually there are a lot of tourists, but I was up there all alone. It was still and silent."

That quote is from Jennifer Pharr Davis in an interview on the National Geographic website. The North Carolina native has been named as a nominee for National Geographic's Adventurer of the Year for setting the speed record of 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes on the Appalachian Trail earlier this year.

For seven years, National Geographic has combed the globe to find Adventurers of the Year, each selected for his or her extraordinary achievement in exploration, conservation, and adventure sports.

You can vote for Jennifer by clicking here.


Jeff
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Jennifer Pharr Davis Breaks the A.T. Speed Record!

Roughly an hour ago team Davis posted this blurb on Jennifer's blog:

After 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes Jen has finally finished the 2,181 mile trail. She reached the end at 3:26 p.m. today. Hard to express how proud of her we are. Pics and more stories from the trail to come soon.

The now previous overall Appalachian Trail speed record was 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes. That means Jennifer has shattered the record by 22 hours!!

This also means she averaged almost 47 miles per day!

Here's an official press release from her publisher.

Major kudos and congratulations!


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com


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Much Pharr-ther down the road

Since the last time we checked-in on her, Jennifer Pharr Davis has made some serious progress in her quest to break the overall record for the fastest hike of the Appalachian Trail.

By my calculations she's hiked 1656 miles through 36 days, and has averaged 46 miles per day! During one 5-day stretch Jennifer put in a whopping 261 miles!

Although the terrain in Maine is quite tough, I was a little concerned that her daily mileage was a little low after averaging "just" 40 miles per day over the course of the first 10 days. But once she got into New York her daily mileage really picked up.

On the latest blog posting, which is likely through July 20th, her crew estimates that she will be finishing up at Springer Mountain in Georgia either on Sunday night, July 31st, or Monday morning, August 1st.

As of that last posting she was in southwest Virginia, and has 524 miles to go, meaning, she expects to average roughly 47.6 miles per day over the final 11 days of her quest. This also means she will have surpassed the current record of 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes, by roughly a half day!


Jeff
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Keeping Up With The Pharr Davis's

Last time we checked-in with Jennifer Pharr Davis she had already completed 242 miles of the Appalachian Trail, and was on her way to tackling the Presidential Range in New Hampshire.

Two weeks later, Jennifer is now in New York with another 460 miles under belt (through 18 days reported on her blog).

Davis is attempting to break the overall Appalachian Trail speed record of 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes. Jennifer will need to average roughly 46.5 miles per day. So far she's averaging a little more than 42 miles per day, but this includes some very tough terrain in Maine and New Hampshire.

Around day 5 of her A.T. odyssey she started feeling severe pain from shin splints. Using a regimen of tape, ice, ibuprofen and compression socks, she's been able to manage the pain, and seems to be on the road to recovery.

While in the White Mountains she also had some stomach problems, and saw a lot of nasty weather - rain, wind and sleet. But in the last few days her quest seems to be hitting stride.

You can keep up with her adventure by visiting her blog.


Jeff
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How Pharr will she go?

Jennifer Pharr Davis is now one week into her attempt to break the overall Appalachian Trail speed record. In order to break the current record of 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes, she will have to average roughly 46.5 miles per day. So far she's averaging just above 34.5 miles per day. However, she's traversing through some very tough terrain, including the Mahoosuc Range, which is considered to be the toughest mountains on the trail.

In just seven days, and 242 miles, Davis has already completed the Maine portion of the AT, and appears to be on pace for her record breaking attempt up to this point. Today she'll enter the Presidential Range in New Hampshire.

Jennifer has already paid a steep price for pushing through all that tough terrain at the pace she's on. Sometime during day 5 she started experiencing shin splints on her left leg. She described it on her blog as the most painful injury she's ever had. This will be something that will be hard to shake off as she proceeds down the trail.

Here's Jennifer crossing the Kennebec River:

Ms. Davis has already seen a bear and several moose along the way. You can read more details about her adventures and follow her progress on her blog.


Jeff
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Jennifer Pharr Davis set to begin A.T. odyssey this week

If all goes as planned, sometime this week Jennifer Pharr Davis will begin her much anticipated attempt at breaking the overall Appalachian Trail speed record. Jennifer already owns the Women�s Speed Record for the fastest thru-hike of the A.T., setting the record in 2008 after completing the trail in just over 57 days.

To break the overall record she'll have to hike the entire 2,180-mile trail in less than 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes. That's an average of 47 miles a day!

She plans on making a southbound hike on this occasion. Her start date will depend on trail and weather conditions in northern Maine, and she'll only depart from Mount Katahdin if there's a clear forecast.

As part of her strategy, when possible, she plans hiking up mountains and running down them. To get through her 16-hour days she'll consume at least 6,000 calories per day. This is 3 to 4 times what the average person typically consumes in a day!

As you might expect, Davis has generated quite a bit of publicity after making her formal announcement of the attempt back in April. Women's Adventure Magazine published a nice feature article on her in late May, and earlier in the week, National Geographic Adventure published an excellent Q&A with her.

Also, take a look at author Johnny Molloy's interesting piece in Blue Ridge Outdoors about the recent phenomenon of "speed hiking".

I'm not sure how often her team will be providing updates, but she told me in an email that people will be able to keep up with her progress on her blog.


Jeff
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