Do you ever have the urge to walk from Maine to Georgia as fast as you can? Well apparently, some people do, and fortunately for them, the Appalachian Trail is the perfect opportunity. This stretch of trail ranks among the largest in the world, spanning nearly 2200 miles on America’s East Coast.
The trail is segmented; numerous access points span the entire way, allowing easy access for recreational hikers and folks who want a relaxing walk. Some, however, like to take the hike to the extreme, and trek from Springer Mountain in Georgia the whole way to Mount Katahdin in Maine. If this sounds painful, it gets worse. A select few like to finish the journey as fast as they can.
Karl Meltzer currently holds the record for the fastest time in which the trail has been fully completed, finishing just shy of 46 days. At this pace, he would have averaged about 47 miles per day. More impressive still, he beat the previous record by 10 hours.
Meltzer is no stranger to endurance races like this, however. He has competed in 100 mile races and other ultra runs since the 1990s, so he was pretty well prepared. It is also worth noting that he did not finish this challenge on his first attempt; it actually took him three tries to achieve the record.
Click here to see a great write up of Meltzer on DailyMail.com.
(Photo courtesy of Daily Mail)
To me, this is just unfathomable. This man must either have an extraordinarily high pain tolerance or be some sort of super-human. As I’ve mentioned before, I dabbled in trail running in the summer of 2017, completing a 20 mile trail race with over 4,000 feet in elevation change in just under 3 hours. Needless to say, I was mentally and physically exhausted by the end. After the race, I stayed in bed for the rest of the day, too tired to do anything. For the entire next week, I was sore the entire way up my legs.
This is something that man did every day for 46 days, except he went a whole marathon further to reach his daily mileage requirement. He is definitely a special kind of person.
I have always wanted to hike on the Appalachian Trail, and I wish I had the ambition to venture the entire thing. I want to see the views that it offers, and it would be interesting to experience the changes to the ecosystem and climate as one travels further south. Its longitudinal setup seems as though it would allow for natural changes fairly quickly.
Maybe one day, I’ll be able to say that I walked from Maine to Georgia. Would you care to join me?
For more information, click here to go to to the Appalachian Trail website!
This is amazing! I have no idea how someone can complete this level of endurance. I can barely get to class without being out of breath sometimes and I certainly don’t think I would have the tolerance to complete 2,200 miles. I might consider biking (part of it…) if that was possible but the thought of bruises, blisters and constant sore legs would probably compel me not to do this. I’d heard of the trail but had never really read into the details of it – Thanks for sharing this!