Brian Robinson (hiker)

Brian Robinson was the first person to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail and the Continental Divide Trail (or the Hiker Triple Crown) in one year, a total distance of over 7,000 miles.[1]

Robinson decided (in 2000) 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 back-packer. Mid-way through the trip, Brian realized the Triple Crown might be achievable in a single year.[2]

Robinson completed the Triple Crown with tremendous support from his friends and family. Support for his pursuit ranged from notes of encouragement in trail registers to regular food re-supplies mailed to strategic points along the route,[2] 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 his travail, he overcame several emotional obstacles, including having his pack mis-routed 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."[3] Because of his rapid hiking pace, his fellow through-hikers began calling him "Flyin' Brian", a trail name he continues to use.

In the years following the Calendar Triple Crown, Robinson became an active ultra-marathoner. He has completed several 100-mile races, including the Western States 100 and the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run. In 2008 he set the course record at the Barkley Marathons, a grueling 100 mile course in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee. A feature in the Washington Post chronicles his attempt to finish the race in 2007.[4]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Tresniowski, Alex; O'Connor, Colleen; Billups-Kneeland, Andrea (December 10, 2001), "March Madness". People. 56 (24):117
  2. 1 2 Ballard, Chris (July 23, 2001), "Walking the Walk". Sports Illustrated. 95 (3):A20
  3. ↑ Ballard, Chris (November 12, 2001), "Historic Feet". Sports Illustrated. 95 (19):A27
  4. ↑ Saslow, Eli (April 2007). "Punishing Race Is an Enticing Lost Cause". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
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