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View Full Version : Swami -Calendar Year tRiple Crown!



Malto
12-29-2012, 10:50
Yesterday Swami hit Springer mountain and completed the AT. This makes him only the third person to do a calendar year triple crown. As an added bonus, he knocked a few days off of Squeaky's record not that this had been a driving force.

In addition to the triple crown feat, he will have hiked about 10,300 miles in 2012. This also appears to be the highest calendar year mileage hiked. Overall, since he started doing his 12 hikes last year he has hiked over 15k miles. the coolest part of the story is that speed and mileage are not what is driving him. He has a serious love of the outdoors and the mileage he does enables him to complete his hiking series within weather windows. For example, he should have the fastest known time for the CDT, not that there is a defined route. But that was never his goal. Rather it was to hit the AT as early as possible and create his own luck.

Now the big news!!!!! Swami pulled a Forest Gump at Springer!!!! You turned around and is heading back north on the AT with a potential goal of yo-yo the triple crown. That will likely make him the last starter SoBo on the CDT, first finisher on the PCT, last SoBo on the AT, last finisher SoBo on the AT and now the last NoBo on the the AT in 2012.

Here is the link to his latest blog entry. http://www.thehikinglife.com/journal/2012/12/at-day-73-12-long-walks/

Congratulation Swami, keep on walking!

Sly
12-29-2012, 10:58
Wow that's impressive for sure

hikerboy57
12-29-2012, 11:47
unbelievably awesome

canoe
12-29-2012, 12:15
Wow congrats

HikerMom58
12-29-2012, 13:10
That is amazing...:clap

SCRUB HIKER
12-29-2012, 13:31
No sarcasm this time, that's just awesome.

Marta
12-29-2012, 14:19
Wow! An amazing achievement.

Dr. Professor
12-29-2012, 14:34
I love following his journal.

He's incredible.

Del Q
12-29-2012, 15:02
Jeez, talk about work-avoidance!

The human endeavor continues............many years ago running a marathon was rock-star status, now it's 100 miles +

Accomplishments like this are truly amazing........we all know how hard backpacking is, these are no trails, especially the AT. Only a small % is easy.

ChinMusic
12-29-2012, 15:02
I'd be curious how he gets enough calories to keep this up.

edit: just found his link on this

Slo-go'en
12-29-2012, 17:43
Truely remarkable feat. But the return trip could be a bit more difficult as it looks like this could turn out to be a big snow year. Already we've gotten more snow across the country than all of last season.

Malto
12-29-2012, 18:21
Truely remarkable feat. But the return trip could be a bit more difficult as it looks like this could turn out to be a big snow year. Already we've gotten more snow across the country than all of last season.

Swami would get a big laugh at this. Remember he started his adventure with the Pacific Northwest Trail in July 2011. Let me refresh everyone's memory of the PNW in 2011, it was solid snow only to follow the PNT up with the Sierra High Route. Add to that the fact that he had hundreds of miles of snow on the PCT this year and I think he is well prepared for the return trip. He has a great strategy for the AT plus I am confident he will quickly learn the particular quirks on the AT this time of year.

Don H
12-29-2012, 19:59
I've been following Swami's blog. Absolutely amazing! Congratulations Swami!

FatMan
12-29-2012, 20:26
The wife and I met Swami today out on the trail while we were walking our dogs. We chatted for about 5 minutes while a light snow was falling. He came across as a genuinely nice guy who just loved being in the woods. He was heading back to Neel's for the night after staying there just two nights ago. We met up again at Gooch Gap as he had stopped for a short break and we headed out of the gap together. He can hike fast for sure as he was out of sight within minutes. Good luck Swami on your return to Katahdin.

Papa D
12-29-2012, 20:29
Super cool - - makes me feel inadequate - just planning another "regular thru-hike" is hard enough!

Violent Green
01-03-2013, 20:06
Glad to hear he made it! This winter has been so mild that he may not hit any real weather for his NOBO attempt until very far north. Will Katahdin be open when he arrives?

Ryan

Malto
01-03-2013, 20:18
He pulled the plug on the return trip. He is ready to move on to another chapter. I have little doubt that he could have pulled off the yo yo but it is completely understandable that he is ready to move on, another year is a huge commitment.

Rasty
01-03-2013, 20:41
In true Forest Gump style - I'm tired now I think I'm gonna go home. :D

Amazing hiker!

Del Q
01-03-2013, 21:52
Agreed...............an amazing hiker and true lover of the woods/wilderness.

A real inspiration to all of us.

Del Q

Dogwood
01-04-2013, 03:05
It's GREAT to see folks actually happily accomplishing their goals rather than just yakkety yakketing about them in a wishy washy way and never really planning for their achievement. It's even that much more satisfying, at least to me, when folks push the limits in a atypical fashion and then don't make a big deal about it. Even though I don't usually get overly hung up on miles, those are some BIG DIVERSE miles to post in a calendar yr. I can also see his prep and lead up to accomplishing a TC in a calendar yr. When someone does things like this, in the manner that he's done it, I just gotta give it up. Wish I would have been there at Springer, maybe give him some Ramen. LOL. WELL DONE!

He obviously plans and knows himself well, enjoys long distance hiking, and hikes BOTH fast and long. More of us, if this was our goal, could be doing these and even GREATER things! Just a matter of time. Again, WELL DONE! Certainly an inspiration to what's possible.

Colter
01-04-2013, 10:33
An incredible accomplishment and it's great that he enjoyed the adventure.

Mags
01-04-2013, 10:46
CAm and I have exchanged many e-mails in the past. Good guy who not only does some cool things but (more importantly) seems to have a deep love for the outdoors and the things he is doing.

We just missed meeting up with each other when he was in Pagosa Sprgs. I was in nearby Cortez, CO on a little honeymoon (http://www.pmags.com/mesa-verde-and-the-four-corners). For some reason, he understood why I did not answer my e-mails. :D

Still need to buy him a pint or two.

Squeaky 2
01-21-2013, 06:59
just logged in to see what was happening in the hiking world. big congrats to swami for completing his triple crown. good luck with future plans:banana

Yukon
01-25-2013, 09:16
I met Swami when he was coming through VT near Bennington. I was hiking north from Rt. 9 and he was coming south. We chatted for a good 15-20 minutes or more, and he left a great impression on me. Truely one of the coolest guys I have ever met on the trail. He is very humble and you can tell he just loves to be hiking. I asked him how long he was out for and when he told me what he was doing it floored me. I asked him if he had a blog or anything and he told be about his wesite, www.thehikinglife.com (http://www.thehikinglife.com) , which I checked out when I got home. A lot of useful information on there about long distance hiking, and his blog entries are great. I was happy to see he gave me a shout out in one too :)

Congrats to Swami!

Dr. Professor
01-25-2013, 13:28
Swami's blog is great; what he did is just awesome. At the end of the day, I'm most floored by the fantastically unlikely rescue of the day hiker after Swami had already achieved his goals, then just decided to turn around.

Unreal.

Malto
02-06-2013, 09:39
Here is a video of an interview from an Aussie TV network. Our very own Swami is now world famous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uEMBB1oU4I

OzJacko
02-08-2013, 07:09
Here is a video of an interview from an Aussie TV network. Our very own Swami is now world famous!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uEMBB1oU4I
Steady on mate!
He's one of ours.....:D

vtrek
02-08-2013, 08:59
cool and crazy!

STINGER1
02-08-2013, 12:09
SWEET!! Thats so awesome. I met Swami on the FT in Jan 2012. He was almost done with the FT(sobo) and I was headed to Mt K. Congrats my friend.