Mileage: fact or fiction

[loonyhiker]

I read an article that mentioned hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and a record set but in my mind it sounds impossible. When I figured a 16 hour day, this guy would have had to travel at 24 mph the entire time. Am I reading this wrong?

"Brad, trail name Zebadiah, solo-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail - 2650 miles from Mexico to Canada in 7 days, breaking the old record by a whopping 13 days"

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=11411200&BRD=1716&PAG=461&dept_id=74119&rfi=6

[Brushy Sage]

As I recall, the man who hiked the Pacific Crest, Continental Divide and Appalachian trails all in one year, had an unbelievably high average daily mileage. I don't remember the exact figure, but something like 26-30 comes up.

[SGT Rock]

that would mean he had to make 378.6 miles per day. I have heard of power hikers before, but that is unbeliveable. That would be like starting at Springer and hitting Damascus at the end of your first day. Even if he hiked 24/7, he would have to make 15.77 miles per hour every day without EVER resting. The Boston Marathon record holder only ran about 12 miles per hour. I think something is fishy here. :eek:

[SGT Rock]

Looks like a job of poor editing or fact checking. Looks like the actual time was 67 days:

http://www.rudywg.com/pct.html

That would be about 39.5 miles per day average. While certainly not easy, it could be done.

[chris]

Zebediah is a fraud. The actual record holder is a man named Ray Greenlaw, aka Wall, who broke Flyin' Brian's record by a day and a half in 03, the same year I hiked. It appears that Zeb hiked some, and hitched some, in 03. For example, he claims to have traverse OR in, I believe, 5 days. That is about 80 miles a day. Yes, that is possible in one day, but pushing it for trained ultramarathoners (Zeb is a 19 year old college student). Over 5 days, it won't happen. For reference the speed record on the JMT (tougher terrain) is a little over 4 days for the 220 miles. On top of this, no one that I know of in the up front pack of the PCT actually saw Zeb, just his signatures. It is unlikely he could hike past the front seven or eight hikers, spread out over 200 miles, without any of them seeing him. I asked people in the mid pack if they had seen him hiking, and they hadn't. I did get one report of an actual Zeb sighting by some people in SoCal, but that was it. It made, along with some side bits from Wall, an interesting soap opera for those up front to watch unfold. No one, except his mother and a few others, believe Zeb's story. Questions sent to him for a few innocuous details have gone unanswered.

[SGT Rock]

Ahhhhh, so the plot is still thick.

[tlbj6142]

Zebediah is a fraud.One of the many unanswered questions I had from your journal. I assumed you answered them all in the never released "Washington" section.:D

[Jaybird]

MAN! no matter if its 36 a day or 360 a day & still walking/running these trails....WOW!


does NIKE, Vasque boots, or New Balance own these guys souls????



must've had a heckuva support team! :-?

[chris]

MAN! no matter if its 36 a day or 360 a day & still walking/running these trails....WOW!


does NIKE, Vasque boots, or New Balance own these guys souls????



must've had a heckuva support team! :-?


Zeb was unsupported. The Washington sections for my journal are posted now, but I don't think I mention Zeb very much. Sometime ago in (01? 02?) there was a hiker named Rocket Girl who supposedly hiked faster than Zeb did. She doesn't publicize the fact, nor does she claim a speed record. I don't know of any documentation of her hike beyond a few trail rumors (albeit from people I think highly of). Wall was certainly the real deal. You can find Zeb's journal somewhere at www.pcta.org.

[Mags]

Rocket Girl was a very hard hiker to meet. She did hike mainly at night, which is part of the reason. I did BRIEFLY saw her (I think) around Mojave as I was getting down to camp for the evening. She whizzed by with a slight nod.

The Stehekin shuttle did have her signature on it. (In 2002, the shuttle drivers let us scribble on it because they were retiring the bus).

She also contributed to the recent PCT Handbook.

[Kozmic Zian]

Yea......Fraud. Hellilift......KZ@:D