Breaking the Self Supported Appalachian Trail FKT with Jeff Garmire

0:00Before we dive in, a warning that this episode contains mentions of depression and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK. That's 800-273-8255.

0:22the strategy i use is like a day is 24 hours and if i'm going to sleep three hours i can put that anywhere if i'm dead tired at 9 p.m and i got to sleep i can sleep for my three hours then which it's going to make the morning harder but at least it doesn't make me have to just death march it in from 9 p.m to midnight because i'll be moving slower than if i was well rested so yeah it It just became all these little strategies, these mental things, everything that I've worked on through 20 other FKTs kind of bubbled up to the surface.

1:00On September 21st, 2025, Jeff Garmire hiked to the top of Mount Springer in Georgia. For the first time in 45 days, 8 hours, and 37 minutes, he was finally able to sit down and rest for as long as he wanted. Jeff had just set the fastest known time record for trekking the Appalachian Trail, and he did it self-supported. Nobody brought him meals, handed him fresh gear, or made sure he was on pace. It was just Jeff, a resupply plan, and very little sleep. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard.

1:56Jeff is a legend in the world of fastest known times. In fact, legend is his trail name. He holds more than 20 FKTs on routes including the Colorado Trail, the Arizona Trail, and the John Muir Trail. For Jeff, collecting these records is a perfect way to apply his skills and his single-minded dedication to through hiking. Jeff Garmar, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. You are a man of many, many, many, many, many wild ideas. A lot. My whole life. So growing up, did you do other sports besides hiking? Like were you a runner? Did you play soccer? I did every sport. Like I would shoot baskets for hours on end, even if it was snowing or raining in the Northwest.

2:43I just loved the aspect of getting better at something physically because it's just really cool to see your progress. Even when I was four years old, we did a house exchange and we were in France and we saw these jugglers on the street and they had this Diablo throwing it up in the air. Okay, hold up, hold up. So if you don't know what a Diablo is, it's like a yo-yo where the string is connected to two sticks. Yeah. And I told my parents I wanted one. I'm like barely coordinated enough to do anything, but every single morning I wake up early and be practicing that on the patio. And by the time we left a couple of weeks later, I could spin it and throw it up in the air and catch it.

3:23And then a few years later, I did the same thing with saw people on a unicycle. And I told my parents I wanted one. My parents said I could get one penny a pine cone. So I picked up like 8 ,000 pine cones. And so they bought me a unicycle. And every day after school, I worked on learning to ride that unicycle. And basically everything in life, I get a little bit obsessed about it and dive on in probably more extreme than a standard person, maybe. That's really cool. So you're a man who likes to achieve goals physically and you become laser focused on them and somehow you're able to push everything aside and focus on it.

4:00Yeah. If I want a goal bad enough or I want to be able to do something bad enough or learn something, I will obsess about it. I think the real trick is finding the things that are engaging enough to be that laser focused on. Okay. So when did you become obsessed with through hiking? Well, I kind of fell into through hiking. So I was in the middle of college. I was working towards an engineering degree, and I didn't want to become an engineer. So I was going to take some time off college, but I didn't want to just quit and do nothing. So we'd met these thru-hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail when we were out for a weekend backpacking trip as a family, and it just kind of stuck with me that they were hiking the PCT.

4:43So I told my parents I was going to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, and two weeks later, I flew to San Diego and started walking north towards Canada, and I loved it. I didn't know I would love it. I was scared the first night. I had to figure a bunch of stuff out. I had a 60-pound pack to start out. So I just fell into it and realized I loved it along the way, but it started as kind of a whim. So what year was this? 2011. So I was 20 years old. 20 years old, 2011. But you did it by yourself? It started out by myself, but you meet other people that are through hiking out there and just found that that's what I love more than anything, more than the miles and the outdoors is like you could have these conversations and get to know people without the distractions of everything else going on in your life.

5:32So it just felt like a really organic and natural situation to be in and learn that I love this activity, sport, whatever you want to call it. So in 2011, did you finish the whole thing? Yeah, it took I think 112 days or so, so like four months-ish, and then I went back to college in the fall. That's incredible. What do you remember most about that first through hike? I mean, there had to been like scenery, mistakes, people. Everything was such a surprise and they didn't know anything. So there was so much learning along the way about just getting better geared, learning I didn't have to carry three extra changes of clothes and what I could eat.

6:16And I really grew up on that trip. So college is you enter college and, you know, there's a dining hall and things are pretty well laid out for your success. But when you're living out of a backpack and having to buy food for the next four days, I grew up and became an adult on that trip. And I just fell in love with it along the way.

6:44After he hiked the PCT, Jeff did what many thru-hikers try to do. He went back to quote-unquote normal life. He finished his business degree, moved to Denver, and took an accounting job. When he wasn't at work, Jeff started chasing big feats, like climbing all 58 of Colorado's 14ers. But when he completed that project, he started to struggle with his mental health. Part of it was the post-adventure crash that we talk about a ton on the show, and part of it was that he just wasn't happy with his job. Most of all, he realized the life he'd built off-trail didn't fit the person he'd become on it.

7:27Eventually, I was just so depressed. I was suicidal and thinking, like, what do I do with my life here? Like, I hate it. It feels like I'm stuck here. I really don't like this career path that I'm on. And when you feel that way, it's basically like any choice you make that changes things is better than continuing on that path. And so it was like, well, there's no real consequence to just selling all my stuff, doing the one activity that I know I love, which is through hiking. And so that's what I did to escape or avoid was just like, I can just sell everything. and I'd heard of, it's called the Triple Crown of Thru Hiking, where it's the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail.

8:14And four people had done them in the same year, and that's about 8 ,000 miles. And I thought, I want to try to do this. It will give me eight to nine months of figuring out what to do with my life, and I've got a couple credit cards. If I don't have enough money, I'll just figure out life. And so that's what I did. I sold everything, quit my job, and flew out to the East Coast, got a ride to Springer Mountain, north of Atlanta, and then began eight months of through hiking. What year was this, and how old were you? 2016, and I was 25 years old. What did your parents think of this? Well, when we go back to how intense I get about things, I think my parents sort of learned that just go with it.

9:02I think it's, I was going to do it whether they were that into it or not. And so they thought it was pretty wild, dramatic, extreme idea, but they also were supportive as they could be. Like my dad helped mail out some packages and help with some logistics and thought that it was pretty cool that I was going for this. And I don't think they had any idea if I would finish or not as the real thing though. Yeah. It sounds like they were probably worried about you and they were like, you know what, this is going to make him happy. Let's support him. It's tricky. There's a lot of people I interview who do really extreme things and they also struggle with mental health.

9:43I've struggled with it. Lots of people I interview struggle with it. Did you get more clarity doing the Triple Crown? I mean, I'm guessing you finished and probably broke an FKT because you're total badass. Did that happen? What I really learned out there is that I got so lucky at 20 years old to find this activity. And it made me realize trying to fit into a mold was a big mistake. And I need to keep finding a way to make this a part of my life.

10:15After spending 250 days and 12 hours on trail, Jeff set the FKT for completing the Triple Crown within a calendar year. He had covered 8 ,000 miles of trail across the U.S., and he realized his relationship with thru-hiking was just getting started. He wondered what other records he could break.

10:39how did you discover what fkts are and could you just tell people what they are yeah fkts it stands for fastest known time it's basically the record on a trail so the fastest known time that someone has done a set route so maybe someone else had done it but like we don't know exactly it leaves that room for interpretation like the john mere trail has been an ancient route for long before we were talking about FKTs. So it keeps in that acknowledgement that someone may have done the route faster that we don't know about. And so that's why they're called FKTs. And there's multiple styles you can do them in, whether you have a crew or carrying everything yourself.

11:22So self-supported or unsupported or supported. And yeah, it's basically the speed record on a trail or a route. How many FKTs do you have? I don't know. I think over 20, maybe. I have a good collection of pretty notable routes.

11:43After completing the Triple Crown in 2016, Jeff wrote a book about the experience called Free Outside. He was 25 years old, and for the next three years, he built his life around movement, traveling the country, working odd jobs, and stacking FKTs on iconic trails like the Great Western Loop, the Arizona Trail and the John Muir Trail. But he couldn't shake the idea of returning to a trail he had already completed.

12:15Take me to setting the record for the Appalachian Trail, because that's probably the biggest one, right? Yeah, it's definitely one of the biggest ones out there. Explain to me why it's the biggest one. You'd done it nine years ago. That was the first time you did it. how did it change you nine years ago? The Appalachian Trail has just been around for 100 years or so. And so many people live so close to it. So many thru-hikers do it every year. It's got a long list of record holders. And I think that's what makes it both intimidating, but also exciting. And I did the trail in 2016. It's kind of the trail where I decided it's better to do a trail or a through hike or go on this wild adventure than continue down the path of extreme depression and making drastic decisions.

13:10So in a way, the trail saved my life. And then in 2020, I wanted to go after the record. And I announced I was going after it in January. I had big plans for the year. And then two months later, COVID happens and kind of everything fell apart. And I up working at a grocery store. So I went from on the verge of going for the record to never even leaving Montana to fly out and go after it. So about November of 2024, I was thinking maybe this is the year. And so I started putting things in place and I have a somewhat more stable life and more income than my 20 year old days or 25 year old days of like, let's set things up so I can do this right so I can go train out there a little bit on it, put the logistics in place, mail out all these boxes.

14:00And once I decided I was going after it, that extreme obsession took over and dove into it to figure out how I can go after this. And the cool thing about how my brain works with all of this is like, I don't have to know if I can accomplish these things or not. I don't have to know if I can ever ride a unicycle or not, or play with the juggling toy or not when I'm four or five years old, but it's like that mystery on if I can do it. And that's what took over with the Appalachian Trail on like, can I do this? Let's just throw everything at the wall and find out and see how things shake out on the other side.

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15:49The Appalachian Trail runs over 2 ,100 miles long from Georgia to Maine. It takes most people five to seven months to complete it. In 2025, Jeff broke the FKT in just 45 days, and he did it self-supported. Aside from other hikers he happened to pass, it was just him out there logging 50 miles a day. Jeff had mailed himself resupply boxes with fresh shoes, food, and other essentials to be picked up at different points along the trail. It was hard work, and almost nothing went according to plan. But for Jeff, that was part of the plan.

16:35So 45 days, there has to be a lot of moments where you just want to quit or you might not get the record. Oh, yeah. There are a lot of moments in a 2200 mile record that really suck. So I got through the hardest portion in Maine and New Hampshire and did really well right where I want to be. What day is this? This is, let's call it day 10 or so. And I open up my resupply box that has my first new pair of shoes. Like really exciting because I just destroyed the shoes that I was wearing over through the White Mountains in southern Maine, which is the hardest part of the entire Appalachian Trail.

17:17and I open it up and inside are two left shoes. Like I'd mailed myself two left shoes and I'm just like distraught. Like how am I gonna make this work? And immediately I do a lot of work going into these records on how I'm gonna act in the face of adversity. And so my mind clicks into problem solving mode versus despair or a woe it's me or that can just ruin your mood. It can kill time. It can really ruin motivation. And so clicking over into problem solving mode, I immediately reached out to my partner, Allison, and was like, got this problem. And we talked on the phone a little bit and came up with the solution.

18:00So the problem with two left shoes isn't just where I got them on the trail there. It means another box was going to have two right shoes, which are also going to be unwearable. So it immediately became, okay, I can just keep wearing the shoes that are worn out. There were holes in them. It's like my toe was poking through the top, but it was like, I can make this work. And in 45 miles, I'll get to Hanover and I'll buy some duct tape, or maybe I can find a pair of shoes there. And if not, I can get to Vermont and Killington and I can get some new shoes there. And so what I did is I ordered a new pair of shoes to every location that I'd already sent shoes to just as a backup plan.

18:39Like at least I'll have one working pair of shoes. And then I got back on the trail. I got to Hanover. I bought a big roll of duct tape that was way too heavy, but I carried for the next 100 miles. And every 30 miles or so, I duct taped the front of my shoe so that my toes weren't sticking out of the shoes. And I walked along the highway into Killington and back out about a mile each way. And I bought some shoes at a local outfitter there and just wore those for a couple hundred miles until I could get my next box with shoes. And, I mean, things just kept going wrong from there. In New York, I broke a pole and had to figure out how to order a new set of poles.

19:20And in Shenandoah National Park, a mouse apparently got into my box and the national park threw out my box so I didn't have any food. There was a lot of problems along the trail. That's incredible. Okay. You're also not sleeping. I don't function if I don't sleep like eight hours. You're not only not sleeping eight hours, sleeping like four hours, but then you're running 50 miles a day or hobbling 50 miles a day and not eating much and you're outside and you're exposed to the elements. You're burning so many calories. How do you do that? I don't know. That's the secret. I think at this point I was having to do like 53 or 54 miles a day.

19:57And I was trying to sleep like two or three hours a night and just get up and move when I could. And are you running through the night? Like I'm so scared of the dark and you're on a trail in middle of nowhere alone. Yeah. Running through the night. I'm hallucinating because I'm not sleeping enough. Do you have any stories about your hallucinations? So when I was five years old or so, the movie Jumanji came out and the safari guy that is hunting them down has sort of stuck with me. And every time I hallucinate, I will start seeing him like standing on a stump or looking at me or things like that.

20:34So he likes to join me a lot at night. And since it's happened on probably five or six different records at this point. It's not so scary, but it is very interesting when he pops up because that's how I know the hallucination door has kind of opened. And this time I was hallucinating like pine cones or leaves were just marching across the trail or looking back up at me and sticks turn into snakes and slither across or amongst your feet. The hallucinations are pretty, pretty deep when you're out there. A lot of normal things just morph into abnormal things. As I'm talking to you, I can tell you've trained for a lot of these things, which like not a lot of hikers do.

21:17Like you went out and you had strategies on how to deal with when things go wrong, which like I said, like a lot of people don't have that. Tell me a little bit about the training for the AT because you have a physical part of your training and a mental part of your training? Yeah, I think the physical part of training is so well researched and applicable to so many different adventures. And the mental side is probably the part I like being a coach too, because I like to think about these are the things that can go wrong. And so immediately by acknowledging that it's like, okay, things can go wrong.

21:53I've acknowledged that. And also if any one of these things goes wrong, I've already thought that through as a possibility. And then I like to come up with a collection of solutions for that problem. So if I don't have a box somewhere, what am I going to do? It's like, well, I've created a spreadsheet with all these other locations I could have used to resupply. And so I can jump back into that. And maybe it's a few miles between getting food and that's not ideal. But I also like to think about things in terms of the hardest part on these long multi-day FKTs is no one else is moving at night. No one else is out there, maybe some animals or deer or something, but it can get really lonely.

22:34And so thinking about that feeling of being lonely out there and what that feels like. So when you're in the midst of your record, then it's not a foreign feeling. You've kind of accepted, acknowledged, and almost expect it. So when these feelings of extreme disappointment and not having a box or two left shoes or this feeling of loneliness come up, you expected that to happen. So it's not a shock. and your brain is like, okay, we knew this could happen. It's happening. That's okay because we already knew it would happen. How are we going to deal with this? And we've already got this brainstorm of possible solutions, what we might want to do, a mental game we can play, something like that.

23:13So it's just trying to think and break down all the adversity you can face and make it not a shock when adversity hits.

23:24In addition to rigorous preparation, Jeff had hiked the trail before, and he knew exactly what he was getting himself into. The Appalachian Trail consists of constant ups and downs, and the terrain is far rougher than most people imagine. Endless rocks and roots, steep quad-burning climbs, and narrow ridgelines that demand total focus. Add on the fact that Jeff was sleep-deprived and moving as quickly as he could, it's a miracle that he didn't get hurt. But even in his delirium, Jeff kept looking up. He noticed the light through the trees, the smell of the dirt after rain, and the relentless rhythm of nature.

24:09You're going so fast. Are you able to appreciate the beauty? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think just watching nature, the world move in the most natural way is the ultimate beauty. Like the views are great too, but it's just like if I wake up at 3.30 and then around 4.30, the birds start chirping. Around 5, it's light enough I can turn my headlamp off. And then from 5 to 6, the beautiful sunset is happening. And 6, the sun's up. And then throughout the day, like all these little changes, you feel the temperature change. Like I can take my jacket off at 7.30 or something. And then like just the most natural pace of life and also how your body works and like what you're craving at certain times, like when, you know, you're sweating more.

24:54So you need more salt, like all these natural things. And then when the animals are moving the most, like in the morning and the evening and things like that, I think are the most fun or even that like porcupines are always out between like 10 and 12 at night. I think those are the parts of beauty and nature that are underappreciated and really fun when you spend 20 hours awake that you get to see this natural pace of life that happens every day for these animals in these locations. But often I think we just don't see them because, you know, we go to bed early and wake up late.

25:35Jeff Garmire:Day 45 of going for the Appalachian Trail record. This is going to be my final day. I have 30 miles to the finish and it's just been such a privilege to get to do this trail and come back out here. I came and did this trail first when I was trying to escape from something, to run from life, to avoid temptations of suicide, and to get to come re-walk and rewrite these steps, be vulnerable, show the emotions and the highs and the lows, and also to go after a record, has been one of the coolest things, and it's added such a depth to my character and personality too so I'm pretty excited to put a bow on this and I'm just really understanding of that 25 year old version of myself that couldn't find any other way to get through life and sometimes that's okay to just blow it all up and go on a through hike and to find yourself.