By: Syd Bickers Photo by: Syd Bickers
Jennifer Pharr Davis is the record holding Appalachian Trail hiker, the owner of Blue Ridge Hiking Company, an author and a 29-year-old mother of one. She attributes her success in leading an adventurous outdoor lifestyle to studying the humanities, an area of education familiar to Milligan students.
“Being a classics major and having a liberal arts education did not give me the technical skills that I needed, but it gave me the confidence to pursue what I love and know that that was okay,” said Pharr Davis.
Davis spoke about the journey she took after graduating from Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. in chapel this Thursday. Upon finishing her humanities undergraduate degree at Samford in 2005, she was not sure what her next professional step would be. At the age of 21, Davis decided to backpack the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) the same year she graduated.
The AT is a 2,184-mile trail that goes through the Appalachian Mountains from Katahdin, Maine to Springer Mountain, Ga. The AT goes through 14 eastern states, including Tennessee. It goes through the Cherokee National Forest near Johnson City. For a map of the entire trail click here.
Growing up in Hendersonville, N.C., Davis had heard of the AT, but had never stepped foot on it until she graduated from college. This was an entirely new experience for her, so new that she borrowed her brother’s trail backpack because she did not have one of her own. She did not think the season long hike would be impossible for her to do, as she had remained physically active playing on tennis throughout college.
In her chapel, she referred to the trip as a “pause.” She thought the trek, which takes an around five to six months to complete, would give her time to sort through her studies and decide what she wanted to do with her life. A journey seemed like the natural thing for Davis to do, as she had just finished her senior project on Homer’s Greek epic “The Odyssey.”
“Reading about journeys or learning about other indigenous groups, I recognize that a pilgrimage, or a walk about, or a sojourn was very important for people who are entering an adulthood,” said Davis. “I think reading those stories gave me the confidence to pursue an adventure and to take time to figure out who I was and transition instead of just immediately jumping into the workforce.”
Davis would later take the trail name Oydssa, an allusion to Odysseus, the main character leading an epic journey in “The Odyssey.” In July of 2011 Davis’ book “Becoming Oydssa” was published. The book is a memoir of Davis’ first AT thru-hike starting in Georgia and ending in Maine. It includes stories about hiking through cold rains, thunderstorms and blizzards all in the same trip. Davis briefly spoke about the trip the memoir covers in chapel.
After the first trip Davis was hooked. She could tell God was calling her to the trail.
She later returned in 2008 to set the record for the fastest AT thru-hike by a woman. If that was not enough, in 2011 she set the record for the fastest over-all thru-hike of 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes. In the last trip she averaged 47 miles a day. Though no official AT speed records are kept, Davis beat the known 2005 record of Andrew Thompson by 24 hours, according to the Associated Press. After breaking the record, Davis was named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and won the Ultrarunning Magazine Female Performance of the Year.
Not only did Davis set records on the AT, but she said traveling in the wilderness taught her to value “countercultural” ideas also. She felt closer to God through the beauty of nature, felt less external pressure to measure up to society’s standards and learned to live simply.
“Our society has this obsession with stuff,” said Davis. “We need a lot of stuff to either look successful or feel happy, and the trail taught me that wasn’t true…I learned how to be content with very few items. The trail taught me to embrace silence and solitude. The trail made me realize that I connected with physical labor and also being in nature.”
Davis helps others enjoy nature though her business Blue Ridge Hiking Company, an Asheville, N.C. based hiking company founded in 2005. The company plans custom hiking trips in the Pisgah National Forest for experienced and inexperienced backpackers alike. Davis said she wants to give all costumers a positive taste of nature. Group prices are based on size.
“God has spoken to me through the wilderness and revealed so much to me through creation…one of the ways I feel like he can use me is by just exposing other people to his creation and letting him do the talking,” said Davis.
More than anything, Davis believes both reading classic journeys and taking her own has taught her to not be afraid of seeking beauty, whether it be in relationships or on the AT.
Her advice to future Milligan College graduates was: “Avail yourself to opportunity; and make time for adventure.”
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