Hiker accomplishes rare ‘Triple Crown’

TOWNSHIP 3 RANGE 10 – A 40-year-old engineer from California set hiking history Saturday by completing a trek of the Appalachian Trail and becoming the first person in a single calendar year to hike three premier 2,000-mile-plus national scenic trails in the United States.

After scaling mile-high Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park, Brian Robinson said he had been prepared for an anticlimactic ending to his 3-year-old dream, “and yet I was quite exhilarated.”

Adding to the emotional high was the presence of his younger brother Greg, who was among a small band joining the tireless hiker for the finish.

“I definitely had in a tear in my eye,” said “Flyin’ Brian” of San Jose, Calif.

“I’m celebrating in my own way and a lot of that is internal and spiritual,” he added.

Averaging 30 miles per day and some days hoofing as many as 41, Robinson already had completed grueling treks of the Pacific Crest Trail in the West and the Continental Divide Trail in the Rockies.

After finishing the Continental Divide on Sept. 27, he returned to the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail where heavy snow had forced him off the route in April.

When he picked up again in Gorham, N.H., Robinson had about 300 miles to go.

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

Completion of the Appalachian Trail gave him rights to the “Triple Crown” of hiking and marked the end of 7,400 miles of treks that took Robinson through 22 states since he embarked Jan. 1.

Along the way, he had to contend with hip-deep snow, scorching heat, more than 1 million feet of climbs, loneliness and bouts of self-doubt, not to mention a case of Bell’s palsy that paralyzed the left side of his face for six weeks.

Thanks to a high-calorie diet, the 6-foot-1-inch, 155-pound Robinson maintained his weight.

Robinson said he was alone for most of his hike, moving too fast for others. He also recounted the warnings he received before setting out: “Too many miles, too tedious, too much chance of injury and not enough summer.”

In the end, he said, the sternest challenge was psychological – “it’s mostly the isolation.”

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 – the Appalachian and Pacific Crest – in a single year.

Robinson hiked the entire 2,645-mile Pacific Crest in 84 days and six hours, an average of better than 31 miles a day. He covered 2,588 miles of the Continental Divide, which has no fixed route over much of its length.

The systems engineer for Tandem Computers of Cupertino, Calif., now Compaq, set a goal in 1998 to hike all three trails after hiking the Pacific Crest Trail for the first time. He saved $10,000 to pay for the venture.