This month I took some time to hear a speaker talk about her journey hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT). Her name is Jennifer Pharr Davis. She is a hiker, wife, author, mother and now speaker, with an amazing story – hiking can be addictive (although she doesn’t tell it exactly that way).  

Can you remember the first time you were alone hiking in the woods? For many, it is a personal connection with nature that seems to satiate some deep, ancient craving inside you.  

Jennifer or Odyssa (her trail name) grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. At a young age, she developed that connection with nature. At age twenty-one, just after graduating college, she was full of energy and craved adventure. Jennifer sheepishly admits, “I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up.” The lure of the trails beckoned to her. Unlike most grads, embarking in-search of a new career, she decided to thru-hike the AT. She had only camped two nights before taking on the AT. Now she was to spend days and weeks on the trail. Addiction.  

Since then, Jennifer has hiked more than 20,000 miles of trails on six continents. These include the Pacific Crest Trail, Vermont’s Long Trail, and the Colorado Trail, three thru-hikes on the AT, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and the 600-mile Bibbulmun Track in Australia.  

Jennifer holds endurance records on three long-distance trails. In 2011 she became the fastest woman to hike the AT, completing the hike in 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes. When she first set out to challenge the records in 2008, all the records were held by men. “Why not a woman?” she thought.  

She had a trail addiction for sure. But it would take a lot more than her “love of trail” to get her to finish her record-breaking AT hike in 2011. She credits her husband Brew for keeping her focused through her on-trail adversity. “It was Brew’s job to think of everything”, says Jennifer laughing. She overcame painful shin splints, hypothermia during a raging sleet storm on Mt. Washington and a debilitating stomach flu. Just when she was ready to throw in the towel, Brew pushed her onward. “Suck it up!” he urged her - an uncharacteristic response for her mild-mannered companion. But it worked.  

Jennifer and Brew now travel around the world hiking new trails and sharing their stories. The only difference now is that they have a 17 month-old baby girl in tow. “Has having a child slow you down?” I asked. “Not really”, Jennifer replies thoughtfully.  

We’re not all that driven by our trail additions but we can certainly relate. You can catch Jennifer on the Continental Divide Trail this summer or online. Jennifer has written for Trail Runner magazine, Away.com, and is a frequent contributor to Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, and has written two guidebooks. Jennifer lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her family (when not on the road) and is the owner and founder of Blue Ridge Hiking Co.