Brew Davis - 46 Days. Keeping Up With Jennifer Pharr Davis on the Appalachian Trail

46 DAYS

Keeping Up with Jennifer Pharr Davis on the Appalachian Trail

BREW DAVIS

Foreword by
Jennifer Pharr Davis

Copyright 2011 by Brew Davis

FIRST PAPERBACK EDITION

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Davis, Brew.

46 days : keeping up with Jennifer Pharr Davis on the Appalachian Trail /Brew Davis with Jennifer Pharr Davis.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-8253-0678-5 (alk. paper)

1. HikingAppalachian Trail. 2. BackpackingAppalachian Trail. I. Pharr Davis, Jennifer II. Title.

GV199.42.A68D37 2011

796.510974dc23

2011043243

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Interior design by Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

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Printed in the United States of America

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome,
dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your
mountains rise into and above the clouds.

Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey(1994)

First to my wonderful wife.
Then to the Pit Crew, who helped her to do something amazing.

Life is filled with voices. On a daily basis we hear the opinions of advertisements, faith groups, politicians, friends, and family. We constantly process external noise that tells us what is responsible, what is successful, and what is normal. All the noise makes it difficult to find silence and the differing opinions make it difficult to find ourselves.

The most popular question surrounding our 2011 record attempt on the Appalachian Trail was why? Why would I want to hike 2,181 miles as fast and efficiently as possible? That, in itself, is not a difficult question to answer, but it is challenging to explain.

The simple answer is, that by attempting to set an overall record on the Appalachian Trail, I was following my heart. I was listening to the internal voice that screamed in the silence, filled my head with dreams, and made my stomach feel uneasyexcited and scaredas if I were on the edge a cliff. For over two years, my every run, every hike, every lull in the workday was filled with dreams of the record. I wasnt trying to think about record, and at some points, I most certainly did not want to think about record, but its daily presence was undeniable.

If I had to describe the voice inside that led me back to the trail, then I would say that it was loud, loud and hopeful. My reaction to the voice, however, was much different. My response to the swell of possibility within my soul included fear and reason. I was scared I would fail, scared what other people would think, and scared that my husband would resent me for monopolizing another one of our summers. I also rationalized that hiking the Appalachian Trail, for the third time, wouldnt prove anything, and it wouldnt put me any closer to the kids and stable income that I wanted to be a part of my future.

But on the trail, I get to leave the noise, erase other peoples expectations, and listen to my heart. For me, these silent times of reflection and prayer are found hiking in the woods. I believe that I know who I am standing on top of a mountain, and that I make my best decisions in the heart of the forest. It took ten weeks of backpacking through Europe together before my husband and I made the decision to listen to hope, strip away fear and reason, and try for the overall record on the Appalachian Trail.

The next ten months were filled with training, dreaming, and working on the trail logistics as if they were a Sudoku puzzle. Where could I put in the most miles? Which roads should Brew meet me at? How many calories would I need to consume each day?

It was easy for me to worry that something would go wrong and that we would have to give up the dream before reaching the starting line. I worried that I would get injured or sick. I also worried that something would happen with our jobs or families that would prevent us from hiking. But, most of all, I just tried to enjoy the process. I took my camera on my training excursions and tried to explore trails that I had never been on before. I wondered, after some really hard 30-mile days, how I could average over 45 miles a day for the entire summer. But even when the miles didnt come easily, my training left me feeling reassured in my love for the trail and my desire to try for the overall record.

When my training was finished, and all the details had been addressed, it felt as if, in some way, we had already found success. We believed in ourselves enough to attempt the impossible. Hiking up Katahdin to start the journey, I realized that regardless of what happened on the trail this summer, I would never have to wonder about what could have been.

JENNIFER PHARR DAVIS

Jen and I were married on June 8, 2008. Thirteen days later, after honeymooning in Montreal, Montpelier, Vermont, and on the coast of Maine, we camped out at Katahdin Stream Campground and woke up at 3:30 AM to begin hiking up Katahdin.

About a week later, after Id missed a road crossing near Stratton and the only showers Id gotten were when our tent leaked during the nightly rain storms, Jenever the upbeat thru-hikersaid, Im so glad were out here. This is the perfect way for us to get away from our families and spend time with each other as newlyweds. I sighed loudly and said, You know, we could have gotten away from our families and spent time together as newlyweds in Fiji instead.

Thats kind of been a running joke for us ever since, that and the fact that Jen will owe me for the rest of our lives. After the 2008 hike, she offered to watch 57 Tennessee Titans football games with meone for every day we spent on the trailand give me a back massage at every halftime. I, in my wisdom, told her that I didnt want to quantify things, that Id rather hold it over her for the rest of her life than have it ever come to an end. Now Ive supported her on two record attempts so she owes me twice as much. Two life sentences, if you will.

I remember when Jen came up with the idea to return to the trail and go for the overall record. It was spring of 2010. We were walking on the beach near her parents place at Ocean Isle, North Carolina, when she turned to me nonchalantly and said, Ive been thinking about my AT record...

I said, What have you been thinking? She said, Well, I just felt like I had a lot left in the tank when we finished in 2008. Do you think I could have done it faster? I could already see the wheels turning. I could have squelched her hopes and dreams then and there if Id just lied to her and told her that I thought shed maxed out the last time and that she couldnt do it faster. But I remembered how she stopped at 4 PM on Independence Day so we could watch the fireworks and eat funnel cakes in Woodstock, Vermont. How Id held her up at a road crossing in Pennsylvania because Id spent too much time at the Yuengling Brewery. Or how Warren and Horton both noted how remarkable she looked toward the end of the hike, how she made 38 miles a day seem almost effortless.