I Went from Day Hiking to Triple Crowning… More Than Once (And you can too)

I did not grow up hiking. Yet, by the age of 37 I’d completed America’s Triple Crown of Thru-hiking three times.

The thing is, it’s easy to assume that people who achieve things have some sort of head start or special secret. But, that’s never the case. Everyone starts somewhere and my journey started with a day hike at the Grand Canyon when I was 20. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I followed some friends down the Bright Angel Trail. Walking down into the Canyon was easy. The morning was cool and going downhill flew by. However, everything changed when we reached our turn around point at mid-day. The temperature had soared into the triple-digits, there was no shade…and the hike out was all uphill.

Although that first hike was incredibly difficult, I was hooked and I did as many day hikes as I could from that point forward. Every hike I went on I learned a little bit more, things like how much water I would want to drink, what foods and how much of them to carry with me, the way that topography impacted my hiking pace, and more. Noting all of these things and practicing with them gave me the confidence to take the next step—an overnight hike.

I decided to backpack across the Grand Canyon and despite my many day trips I once again found myself floundering. My gear was heavy, I didn’t have a way to treat backcountry water, I was cold overnight and hot during the day, and my sandals fell apart. It felt like returning to scratch.

There were lessons learned on that overnight and taken forward into the next overnight. I learned more from that one and the next and the next. Then I tried to go on a three night trip. You guessed it…back to the drawing board. Those lessons were taken forward into my first thru-hike and on and on.

The key to anything is incremental progress—learning from your mistakes, and applying them. Even if you’ve never hiked before, you can thru-hike. If you currently have hiking experience, but haven’t slept out overnight, you are capable of completing a Triple Crown. The most important step is the first one. Just get started and work on skill building as you go. Recognize that even Triple Crown Thru-Hikers are still learning as they go. Even when you’ve mastered the basic skills there is depth and breadth to be gained.

1. Just start! Take day hikes, classes, and build basic skills.
2. Day hike in different weather and locations until you’re comfortable with being outdoors.
3. Build up to longer day hikes with heavier packs.
4. Try an overnight trip in a familiar area that you’ve hiked in already (or in your backyard).
5. Do overnight trips in different weather and locations until you’re comfortable with sleeping outside.
6. Try a multi-night hike…repeating the steps above.
7. After you’ve done a few different multi-night trips you’re probably ready to begin planning your…
8. Thru-hike! Remember, a thru-hike is comprised of a string of shorter 2-5 day multi-night backpacking trips.