Riverheads grad Brendan Hickman hikes Continental Divide Trail in record time
Eight pairs of shoes, six showers in 76 days, one bath in a laundromat bathroom sink, multiple blisters, one mountain lion, five states and 2,882.3 miles. Those are just some of the stats from Brendan Hickman's record breaking hike on the Continental Divide Trail.
Hickman, a 2000 Riverheads High School graduate who grew up in Augusta County and now lives in Oregon, left New Mexico June 14 and finished in Montana Aug. 29. The hike officially took 76 days, 10 hours and 52 minutes, the fastest known time for a self-supported hike along the Continental Divide Trail. That beat the previous record set in 2016 by a little over three days.
He had hoped to cover 40 miles per day, but Hickman fell just short of that personal goal, averaging 37.67 miles per day. That included one zero-mile day when he was not feeling well and one 56.7-mile day.
"It's really emotional, really kind of a confusing experience," Hickman said of his feelings when he finished. "The last day I did about 33 miles to get to the finish and it was lots of emotions running through me. I was getting like teary eyed even before I got to the end. I was struggling with tears when I got to the finish. It was an odd relief."
He was met at the finish by his girlfriend, his brother and sister-in-law and his nieces.
"There certainly is this relief of pressure," Hickman said. "But the accomplishment, it didn't feel real. A very surreal feeling."
New challenge
Hickman has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail. He wanted to try the challenge that the Continental Divide Trail provided, one that starts in the deserts of New Mexico, passes through snow-covered mountains in Colorado and covers some pretty remote and wild territory.
The trail was designated by Congress in 1978 and closely follows the United States Continental Divide, starting in New Mexico at the Mexican border and going through Colorado, Wyoming and Idaho before ending at the Canadian border in Montana.
Near the end of the hike, Hickman had to pass through Glacier National Park in Montana. A permit was required to hike the national park, and when Hickman reserved one he planned for an aggressive day. When he arrived he found out it would be an even more aggressive hike with part of the trail closed due to bear activity. The reroute added about three miles to the hike.
Those miles caused severe blisters — Hickman said they went past being blisters and were deep cuts in his foot — and he ended up limping 30 miles on his next-to-last day of hiking. Luckily he got to bed around 9 p.m. and slept until 4 a.m., his longest night of sleep on the trail, and felt much better the following day, his final one hiking on the trip.
His feet hurt more after this hike than any other, including the PCT or AT. The mileage and difficult terrain along the Continental Divide Trail contributed to the pain. On day one he did 48 miles and developed blisters that didn't heal for a month.
The isolation was more than he expected, hiking for days without seeing another person. In New Mexico for 20 days, he only saw three groups of hikers.
"This trail is tucked away into pretty wild mountains the entire time," he said.
Colorado was the most difficult part of the hike, with large amounts of snow and significant altitude ranging from 11,000 to 14,000 feet along the 700 miles in the state. He had prepared for much of the snow to be gone by July 1 according to what he had read, so he entered without an ice axe or any kind of traction for his shoes to maneuver the slippery terrain.
"The mountains are gorgeous but they are very tough to make distance on," Hickman said.
He certainly experienced a range of temperatures on his adventure. At nights in Colorado it got down to near freezing, but the days were not bad. Compare that to the first day he hiked in New Mexico when the temperature hit 105.
Wildlife
He had prepared for grizzly bears in Montana, but didn't see a single one. He only saw two bears on the entire hike and he doesn't believe either were grizzlies. Both were from a distance, one in New Mexico and one in Wyoming. Both ran as soon they sensed Hickman was coming.
He saw lots of elk and deer. He saw a few rattlesnakes, only one that refused to move off trail and forced Hickman to go around. He heard coyotes. Hickman had hoped to see both a mountain lion and a wolf. He didn't see a wolf, but he's pretty sure he saw a mountain line in southern Montana.
It was 10 p.m. and Hickman was wearing his headlamp. It was not uncommon to encounter eyes along the trail, most always belonging to deer or free-range cattle. On this particular night, he saw eyes about 100 feet away so he turned up his headlamp. He still couldn't see what was in front of him, but from the way the eyes were moving it reminded Hickman of a cat.
He pulled out his phone and turned on the video feature, zooming in to get a better view. That's when he saw the ears and body, realizing it was a mountain lion. He kept moving and the animal followed, getting closer from behind. It got within about 50 feet of Hickman, who pulled out his bear spray just in case. He yelled at the animal to move while he backed away. The cat didn't come any closer and eventually disappeared, but for the next hour he said his head was on a swivel. He finally got to a place where he was comfortable that the mountain lion was gone, so he camped.
"It was probably the scariest animal moment I've ever had in the wild," Hickman said.
Hickman hasn't planned his next adventure. It might be a non-hiking experience, like bicycling across the United States or paddling the Columbia or the Mississippi rivers from start to finish.
"It's hard to say," he said. "There are so many adventures out there. There will certainly be something to come, it's just hard to say when it will be."
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— Patrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Riverheads grad Hickman hikes Continental Divide Trail in record time
