Living on Foot
Living on Foot
Photographs by Daniel Leivick
Text by Shawnté Salabert
Audio edited by Erika Lantz
Jeff Garmire began his very long hike without a trail. He stood for a moment on the California side of the Colorado River, admiring one of the only water sources he’d encounter in the coming week, then began walking into the trackless Sonoran Desert with Arizona at his back. With enough luck, he’d end up there more than half a year — and 7,000 miles — later. The 28-year-old — known as “Legend” in hiking circles — set off this spring to attempt the Great Western Loop, an ambitious backpacking route that links together the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), Pacific Northwest Trail, Continental Divide Trail (CDT), Grand Enchantment Trail, Arizona Trail, and nearly 700 choose-your-own-adventure miles across the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. As of now, at least, the only documented completion of the route is by its originator, trekker and ultrarunner Andrew Skurka. Like Skurka, Garmire is an avid thru-hiker, a breed of outdoor enthusiast who spends weeks, even months, backpacking long trails end to end. Before his current journey, Garmire had notched more than 15,000 miles, many of them while pursuing the Calendar Triple Crown, a feat that requires hiking the PCT, CDT, and Appalachian Trail — a combined 7,940 miles — within a single year. Only five other people have done it. Garmire stretches each day to its limits, typically covering between 30 and 40 miles, often sneaking in short naps and hiking well into the evening. He keeps his pack impressively light, around 10 pounds without food or water, stopping in small towns along the route to resupply necessities roughly every hundred miles. Despite dealing with rain and snow, pushing through illness and injury, climbing massive alpine peaks and descending into sweltering desert valleys, and, once, steeling himself during a grizzly charge, Garmire keeps walking.