An Interview With Long Distance Thru-Hiker: Jeff Garmire

If you read the most recent post (which was two weeks ago, because I’ve been a slacker) then you know our hostel host while staying in Salida, CO, just so happened to hike the AT the same year Jackson did, and I found that delightfully wild.

It got better. While sitting outside the hostel and taking in the gorgeous day that Salida had gifted us, Jackson mentioned to me that a guy he was following on Instagram was logging some major miles through Colorado while hiking the Great Western Loop.  I smiled and nodded, too busy soaking in the sunshine to offer much in way of conversation about hiking. My own legs were fried after just a few days on trails.

That very evening while lounging on the couch and chatting with our host, Tony, a guy walks in and Tony moved to the desk in the corner to get him checked in. He couldn’t find the reservation and the newcomer informed us that he’d just made it a few minutes ago. He shared his name and suddenly Jackson stood to cross the room. He asked the guy what he was doing. Turns out, he’s the guy that Jackson had been so impressed by on Instagram, and he was going to stay under the very same roof as us.

Jackson naturally had plenty to ask our new friend about, and I asked if I could record the conversation.

We explained our blog to this thru-hiker that had suddenly been roped into an interview with a couple of gawking fans. We told him about our definition of “in-between,” that it’s a stage of life where you’re just really unsure about what you’re supposed to be doing.

Jeff: I think I’m always in-between. Perpetually in-between.

Jackson: First tell us who you are and where you’re from.

Jeff: My name is Jeff Garmire. I grew up in Vancouver, WA, wish is kind of a suburb of Portland, OR. And… that’s my name and where I grew up.

Lindsey: What makes you happy?

Jeff: Well, I know the outdoors makes me happy. I like the pace of life; it feels a lot more real than the real world. I’ve worked in finance and accounting for the government, an assembly line, and a couple of other jobs in there too. I was bored at some jobs, overwhelmed by some jobs and just the pace of the trail and hiking and nature makes me appreciate life and feel better about everything. Right now I’m doing this thing called the Great Western Loop. So I’m hiking 7,000 miles from late April to late November. I started on the California/Arizona border right on the Colorado river and hiked West to the Pacific Crest Trail, then hiked that North to get within 4 miles of the Canadian border, then hiked East on the Pacific Northwest Trail to Glacier National Park. Within a mile or two from the Canadian border there I started hiking South and am currently on the Continental Divide Trail. Down in New Mexico I’ll hit the Grand Enchantment Trail for a couple hundred miles and then the Arizona Trail for a few hundred miles, and then a cross country route that I kind of made up myself to get back where I started. So, I’m doing a little bit of hiking this year.

Jeff will hike more miles this year than many will in their entire life.

Jackson: How many people have done this?

Jeff: One other person has done a similar loop. With the nature of 7,000 miles you can throw your own spin on it. I also enjoy peak-bagging, so I’ve thrown in a few peaks along the way that I’ve always wanted to climb. I climbed Mt. Thielsen and Mt. Whitney. In the last three days I climbed fourteen of Colorado’s 14ers… which it’s always fun to climb mountains in Colorado, it’s always an adventure.

Jackson: I think you just skimmed over the fact it was over a hundred miles of hiking within 60 hours.

Jeff: *Laughs* Yeah, so it’s called Nolan’s 14. My goal was to do fourteen 14ers within 60 hours. I think it was about 44,000 feet of elevation gain in two and half days. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.. I don’t know that I’ve ever been that proud of myself. I went to some… different places in my mind I didn’t know were there. Around the time I had 12 of the peaks done and I was 57 hours had passed and I was standing 2,500 feet below the last two peaks and I didn’t know what route to take… So I just started yelling at myself out loud trying to pump myself up. I’d had maybe an hour and a half of sleep in the last 57 hours. I started yelling to myself like, “You’re f*ing going to climb these peaks right now!” Then I powered up, got the first one, ran over the saddle and got the second one, then ran all the way down to the trailhead and finished with twenty-seven minutes to spare before my goal… I’ll probably never forget that moment. I’m usually a pretty reserved, quiet person. And I’ve never needed to pump myself up like that but it was really cool to start drawing on emotions I didn’t really know I had. It was quite an experience.

We’d say so.

Jackson: So, you’re a Triple Crowner; you’ve hiked the three major long-distance trails in the United States. And you did that in a calendar year. To some just a thru-hike is crazy, and doing three of them is crazier. But you did all three of them in the same year.

Jeff: Yeah, so, in 2011 I did the PCT, it was my first thru-hike. I had a pretty awesome, but pretty normal experience. I always thought “What’s bigger, better, next?” I’d always thought of being a Triple Crowner so I had to do the Continental Divide Trail and the Appalachian Trail next. And then I kept thinking, “I don’t know if I can do three different years of long-distance trails,” so I started doing the math and wondered if I could do them all in the same year. So in 2016 from February to October I did the AT, the CDT and the PCT all in one year. But I didn’t feel like “Alright, now I’m Triple Crowner, I’m good to go,” it was more like, “What else can I do?” So here I am on the Great Western Loop.

Jackson: So for the past seven years you’ve been hiking… Why?

Jeff: That’s a good question. It feels more real than real life… I always talk about real life as being when you’re not on the trail. But it feels like things are more real when you actually care about the food you get to eat when you get into town. You care more about what you have when you have to carry it all on your back… It’s not about how much money you have. The richest person on the PCT can still quit. So it really equalizes everything. It doesn’t matter what color you are, what age you are, or anything. Everyone has the same bare-bones issues and that just feels more real.

Jackson: So, on a scale of one to ten, where are you in terms of happiness?

Jeff: When I’m hiking, like a nine, sometimes a ten. When I’m not hiking probably a five, maybe a six. It’s the whole, that realness factor. You know how, when you meet someone, there’s that initial thing like you’re putting up a front? It’s so hard to do that when you’re reduced down to being dirty, smelly, and everything you have is on your back. You kind of are what you are in that moment. You can’t fake it. I love getting to meet people for who they actually are.

Jackson: So you’ve been hiking a lot for the past seven years, how many miles do you have?

Jeff: Somewhere around 20,000 I think.

Jackson: It’s cool that you’ve gotten to see so many things most people never will.

Lindsey: We talk about that a lot, when we arrive at a great view. It’s an incredible thought that we’ve come across something so many people will never see or experience in person.

Jeff: I agree. I think that all the time with my hiking. I’ve been in a lot of backcountry areas that not many people see. But I also think, I’ve really only been places largely in the U.S. and there’s still the whole world. It’s never ending. It’s mind-blowing how much you can see but how little of the whole [world ] you’re actually seeing. It’s pretty cool to at least see some of it.

Jackson: Better to have explored some than none at all.

Jeff: Absolutely.

Jackson: So, what do you want to do?

Jeff: When I grow up? I never want to grow up. I’ve been Peter Pan for Halloween like four times. With that question it’s like, once I become that, is my life over? I never want to have that feeling of “Oh now I did it. Now I’m done.” I think one reason I love thru-hiking is there’s a series of short goals. “I’m going to make it to this town, I’m going to climb this mountain, I’m going to make it to this point then I’ll eat.” You have all these sources of satisfaction in reaching these micro-goals.

Jackson: So if you could give somebody in this “in-between” stage of life some advice, what would you tell them?

Jeff: I would say pick out something that makes you uncomfortable and try it. And if you hate it, that’s almost as good as loving it, because if you don’t get used to being uncomfortable, you’ll just get stuck in this rut of what you’ve always done. I did my first thru-hike when I was twenty and I had a 55lb pack… and I spent my first night in a tent just so… uncomfortable. But I got used to that and learned how much I loved it. It opened my eyes to how much more there is out there. I think that can apply to a lot of different situations. If you don’t try, you’re never gonna know. And it’s so easy to try a bunch of things. You don’t have to give up a week or even a weekend; just give it a day and try something you’ve thought about.

Follow Jeff on Instagram: @thefreeoutside