[pct-l] Flyin Brian does it!!!

[Slyatpct@aol.com (Slyatpct@aol.com)]

In a message dated 10/27/2001 8:24:33 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
Montedodge@aol.com writes:


> My hat and semi-bald head is off to Flyin Brian for his finish today of the 
> 

Hehe, the photos were courtesy of Mrs Gorp (who send them to me) or should I 
say the AP (who took them) and AOL News (who distributed them).  

TC or Three Cheers to Brian (isn't that fitting) and also to Mrs Gorp who was 
instrumental to Brian in lending him much of the gear he needed to complete 
the trail after his was lost on Greyhound.

Here's the AP story.

Hiker Achieves 'Triple Crown'

By GLENN ADAMS
.c The Associated Press


THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL, Maine (AP) - For 10 months, he started walking at 
sunup and didn't stop until nightfall. 

On Saturday, ``Flyin''' Brian Robinson became the first person to hike each 
of the three U.S. National Scenic Trails in a calendar year when he reached 
the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail atop Maine's highest peak. 

He averaged about 30 miles a day since setting out Jan. 1, destined to 
complete the Pacific Crest Trail in the West, the Continental Divide Trail in 
the Rockies, and the Appalachian, which runs from Georgia to Maine. 

With a handful of well-wishers in tow, Robinson finished the 2,168-mile 
Appalachian on Saturday atop mile-high Mount Katahdin. 

``This is the toughest five miles,'' Robinson said after reaching the snowy, 
wind-swept summit around 11 a.m. 

Tackling hiking's ``Triple Crown'' - 7,400 miles through 22 states - took 
Robinson through hip-deep snow, scorching heat and more than 1 million feet 
of upward climb. 

To save precious time, he ate while he walked: Snickers bars, peanut butter, 
anything calorie-rich. Nary a pound was shed from his 6-foot-1, 155-pound 
frame. 

Seven pairs of running shoes later, he looked no worse for the wear Saturday, 
save a bushy black beard he last trimmed in April. 

What nearly got him, he said, was the isolation. Since he never slowed down 
and barely stopped, no one could keep up long enough to make good company. 

``I'm celebrating in my own way and a lot of that is internal and 
spiritual,'' he said at the end, where he had prepared for an anticlimactic 
ending. 

``And yet I was quite exhilarated,'' he said. 

Only two dozen people have achieved hiking's Triple Crown in their lifetimes. 
In 1999, two men became the first to hike two of the trails in a single year. 

Robinson hiked the Pacific Crest - 2,645-miles from Mexico to Canada - in 84 
days and six hours, averaging better than 31 miles a day before covering 
2,588 miles of the Continental Divide, which has no fixed route over much of 
its length. 

Robinson, 40, of San Jose, Calif., is on a leave of absence from his job as a 
systems engineer for Compaq. He saved $10,000 for the venture, which he 
dreamed up three years ago after completing the Pacific Crest for the first 
time. 

Jeffrey Schaffer of Napa, Calif., author of Pacific Crest Trail guidebooks, 
said last month that Robinson's accomplishment would be ``the greatest feat 
of endurance on any of the trails.'' 

``I think it's comparable to trying to climb the highest peaks on all seven 
continents in a single year,'' added Karen Berger of Bronxville, N.Y., author 
of ``Hiking the Triple Crown.'' 

``I've quit saying what can and can't be done on the trails,'' she said. 
``Humans are amazing.'' 

On the Net: 

Robinson: http://royrobinson.homestead.com/ 


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