The majority of the things we take for granted are the ones, that if taken away, we would miss the most. And for those who enjoy the outdoors, losing the ability to see would be one one of those things.
At 35, Trevor Thomas went blind. For 30+ years, Trevor had been an avid outdoorsman, whose passions included skiing, running, and mountain biking. But after losing his sight to a rare eye disease, these pursuits no longer seemed possible.
However, after attending a motivational speech by Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to summit Everest, Trevor resolved that the activities he could do, he would do extremely well. And in just five years, he’s accomplished just that. Trevor has become the first blind person to successfully complete an unassisted thru-hike of the 2,1755 mile Appalachian Trail- all with the help of his Gregory Z55. He’s also managed to summit, Mt. Mitchell, the tallest peak on the East Coast, as well as Mt. Evans and Longs Peak in Colorado.
Recently, Trevor has joined forces with Team Farsight in hopes of completing the 2800 mile Pacific Crest Trail, which
stretches from Mexico to Canada. Their attempt in 2010 will mark the first time a handicapped person will lead their team along the 2800 mile journey. Trevor will also be the first blind person to complete the journey beginning to end. To aid Trevor, Gregory will be sending him a Z65 built with Gregory’s new 2010 redesign of the JetStream LTS suspension system.
Beyond his accomplishments, Trevor fills his time with rock climbing, long distance hiking, and adventure racing. See an interview with him on Blue Ridge Outdoors’ website.
When it comes to being a backpack maker, one of the quintessential tests for our products is the Appalachian Trail. But more than a test of products, the Appalachian Trail is an experience of life-changing proportions.
Not too long back, our customer service guru George helped out a guy named Brandon, whose trail name is Trill. (Most thru-hikers take a trail name during their journey.) After helpin
g out with a pack fix Trill needed not too far from the end of his trip, he was pretty grateful and told George he’d share some thoughts and photos from his journey with us once he finished up.
So, true to his word, he sent us a blog post on finishing up his trail season. You can only imagine what kind of emotional journey hiking more than 2,000 miles in one trip is, and – wow – this captures a lot of it.
Dunno if this is your typical blog post (certainly longer than your normal one), but it’s well worth a read. Some real inspiration for why it’s rewarding to get out there and make it happen.
Well I’ve been home for a couple of days and have enjoyed the rest. Getting home was a little wild. Four hitches and three flights later I made it home last Tuesday night. I was greeted by my family and it was wonderful to see everyone.
The most common question I get back home is asking how the end was. I will do my best to try and explain to you how I felt and the way things were. The easiest thing to start with is the details.
The 100 Mile Wilderness leads up to the final push. I would have liked to taken as much time as possible in my final days but I didn’t really have the time and didn’t want to carry eight days of food so I pushed myself a little. I miscalculated my food but was able to get some off people carrying too much and hike about 20 miles a day for 5 days. Continue reading >>
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