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CNN just ran a short blurb on a couple (Martha and Ken?) who will complete the American heritage Trail in October. They billed them as the first people to complete the entire 4900 mile trail.
Anybody know anything about this? Are they really the first?
Lone Wolf
10-01-2005, 10:33
Never heard of the American Heritage Trail. I googled it and found nothing. The American Discovery Trail is over 6000 miles long.
Spirit Walker
10-01-2005, 11:56
Ken and Marcia aren't the first to complete the ADT. They are the first to backpack it all the way in one year. The Happy Feet did it with a combined bike/hike trip, Laurel and Hardy walked it over a two year period, and someone ran it with support. I imagine others have section hiked it, but I'm not sure. Ken and Marcia's journal is very good though and gives a good idea of what the trail is like.
Wouldn't running it count?
Spirit Walker
10-01-2005, 19:04
Sure it counts. Stark, who thruhiked the AT in '95 ran the ADT in '98.
http://www.discoverytrail.org/news/index.html has his journal as well as the one by Bill and Laurie Foot and the Cottrells (Laurel and Hardy).
I know there is a Triple Crown, but has anyone done a Quad? The AT, ADT, PCT, and CDT?
CNN called it the "heritage" trail. I guess they made an error.
Spirit Walker
10-02-2005, 11:07
Again, Ken and Marcia have done all four. I think all the others who have done the ADT had only done the AT before.
Of course, there are a lot of folks who have walked cross country either before or after doing the AT, CDT and PCT - Walkin' Jim did a coast to coast walk, as well as the other three trails, so did Ed Talone. There are others. They created their own routes instead of following the urbanized ADT. Andrew Skurka has done the C2C and the AT. I have no idea whether he plans to do the PCT or CDT.
DaSchwartz
10-03-2005, 17:46
Kudos to them!!!
Note: Someone either has to bring you water or you have to have someone do water drops for you to do this in the Nevada and Utah parts.
http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3927165&nav=8faO
A Pleasanton, California couple are crossing the Sierra Nevada as they approach the end of a 4900 mile trek from coast to coast.
Marcia and Ken Powers are nearing their goal of becoming the first backpackers to complete the official route of the transcontinental American Discovery Trail in one continuous hike. They have averaged 21.5 miles of hiking a day and taken only four days off since starting on February 27th from Cape Henlopen in Delaware.
The Powers passed the 4500 mile mark of their journey when they reached Carson City last week. They hope to complete the hike north of San Francisco sometime in mid-October. The transcontinental hiking, biking and horse trail passes through 15 states from Cape Henlopen to California's Point Reyes.
In 2003, a New Hampshire couple became the first people to backpack the entire official route of the American Discovery Trail, but they hiked segments out of sequence over two calendar years.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2005/09/30/couple_nears_end_of_4900_mile_hike_from_coast_to_c oast/
RENO, Nev. --Marcia and Ken Powers went for a walk in Delaware seven months ago -- and they're still walking, as they approach the end of a 4,900-mile trek from coast to coast.
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The Pleasanton, Calif., couple was crossing the Sierra Nevada this weekend, near their goal of becoming the first backpackers to complete the official route of the transcontinental American Discovery Trail in one continuous hike.
They say their fast pace -- 21 1/2 miles a day -- is no big deal. After all, the couple said, they have taken only four days off since starting on Feb. 27 from Cape Henlopen in Delaware.
"We're not out for records," said Marcia Powers, who would only say she's in her 50s. "We needed to get to the Rockies as soon as the snow melted and we have to get over the Sierra before the snow falls."
She and her 60-year-old husband sought a new challenge after joining an elite group that has hiked all three major national scenic trails: the 2,000-mile Appalachian in the East, the 3,000-mile Continental Divide in the Rockies and the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest on the West Coast.
Among other obstacles, they have had to deal with flooding in Ohio, a quicksand scare in Utah and uncomfortably close lightning strikes in Kansas.
But they rave about the French history of St. Louis, the grandeur of Colorado's Crag Crest National Recreation Trail and the countless strangers who have gone out of their way for them.
Memorable characters included a doctor and dentist who opened their homes to them around Chester, Ill., and a motorcyclist who gave them water after they failed to find a water cache on Utah's lonely Wah Wah Desert.
"There's one word for it: serendipity. The chance happenings out there with people are amazing," Marcia Powers said as they passed through western Nevada earlier this week.
The transcontinental hiking, biking and horse trail passes through 15 states from Cape Henlopen to Point Reyes in California. It traverses 14 national parks and 16 national forests. It also passes through cities, including Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Sacramento and San Francisco.
The trail opened in 2000 -- 11 years after it was proposed as the first coast-to-coast footpath connecting the three major north-south trails.
"The American Discovery Trail is cities, desert, mountains, farmlands. It's so diverse," Marcia Powers said. "It's never had the rhythm the other trails have had. It has been adapt, adapt, adapt, because things continually change."
In 2003, Joyce and Pete Cottrell of Whitefield, N.H., became the first people to backpack the entire official route of the American Discovery Trail. But they hiked segments out of sequence over two calendar years.
The Powers passed the 4,400-mile mark of their journey when they reached Carson City on Tuesday. They hope to complete the hike north of San Francisco sometime in mid-October.
They plan no more rest days, which means they will have averaged a day off only once every two months or 1,225 miles.
Veteran backpacker Jeffrey Schaffer, author of Pacific Crest Trail guidebooks, said he finds the mental aspect of the Powers' hike more remarkable than the physical challenge.
"The hard thing is the mental will to do it," he said. "That's what gets to long-distance hikers more than anything else. It's just such a trudge day after day that they lose the will to do it.
"I applaud them for setting a good example. There are too many older folks sitting in front of TVs and computers. They need to be out active," added Schaffer, 62.
The 6-foot, 150-pound Ken Powers and his 5-foot-6, 110-pound wife haul an average of only 20 to 25 pounds. They arranged for one of two adult sons to mail them 42 food boxes to points along the way.
Both are retired. Ken Powers was a computer programmer for Chevron Corp. and his wife a flute instructor who also played for a community orchestra.
The couple said they're looking forward to resuming life off the trail, and have no plans for future adventures. They have done all their long-distance treks since 2000.
"If you would have told us several years ago that we would be doing all these hikes, we would have said you were crazy," Marcia Powers said. "Every trip we do, we say it will be the last one."
DaSchwartz
10-03-2005, 17:50
Here is a link to their journal on trailjournals.com
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=83655
The Solemates
10-04-2005, 09:40
Ive been following them on trailjournals ever since they left in feb. they are excellent at journaling and their photos are even better. their personal website is great too, and I hope to be in that shape and able to do those things when i retire.
i have been reading their journal for months:cool: neo
http://www.trailjournals.net/
HEY ANYONE HEAR EVER HEAR OF A GUY CALLED "NIMBLEWILL NOMAD" HELL OF A HIKER WHO DID THIS ALONG WITH A FEW OTHER AMAZING TRAILS.CHECK OUT HIS BOOK OR HIS WEBSITE. BOOK TITLE IS " TEN MILLION STEPS". WEB SITE IF ITS STILL UP IS WWW.NIMBLEWILLNOMAD.COM (http://www.NIMBLEWILLNOMAD.COM) I THINK THATS RIGHT.
WELL WORTH THE READ AND THE VIEW!
that couple finished the trail yesterday
http://www.discoverytrail.org/news/powers/index.html
i wasn't sure about making a new thread, so i just replied to this one. :)
Rain Man
10-17-2005, 23:02
Doesn't this thread belong under the "Other Trails" heading? Maybe the moderators can move it to it's right place?
Rain Man
.