9 of the most innovative long walks of 2025

2025 was arguably more epic than a typical year in the backpacking world. Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen hikers from all walks of life push the boundaries of what’s possible, whether setting mind-blowing speed and distance records or overcoming the limitations of age and disability.

As the year officially comes to a close and almost everyone has returned from their hiking adventures to enjoy the warmth and indoor plumbing, it’s the perfect time to take a look at some of the wildest hikes of the year. Read on to learn about some of the most absurd tests of human endurance that hikers faced this year.

All of these inspiring journeys made me cry at some point while following them.

2. Tara Dower: Long Way FKT

You probably know Tara “Candy Mama” Dower from her overall fastest known time (FKT) record on the Appalachian Trail in 2024. Or maybe you know her from her 2023 FKT on the Colorado Trail. You may have also heard his name from his FKTs on the Mountains-to-Sea or Benton MacKaye Trails.

If all those impressive records weren’t enough, Dower went out this year and demolished the overall FKT on Vermont’s Long Trail. Will Peterson set the previous FKT last year at 3 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes, 2 hours and 40 minutes slower than Dower’s time.

This year I hiked the Long Trail a few months after Dower set his record and spent the entire time in genuine surprise that anyone could navigate that terrain so quickly (3 days, 18 hours and 29 minutes). He hiked the SOBO trail, ran 80 miles in the first 24 hours, and only slept three hours over the course of the 272-mile trail.

2. Kilian Jornet: “States of Elevation” (Human Powered Summits of the 72 CONUS 14ers)

If you follow mountain sports, even casually, it is almost impossible not to know Kilian Jornet. He set speed records on Everest and the Matterhorn, linked all the 4,000-meter peaks of the Alps in 2024, and won the Hardrock 100. In 2025, Jornet turned his sights to the American West and what he called the “elevation states.”

The goal was to reach the summit of all peaks above 14,000 feet in the contiguous United States using only human power. This meant there would be no car transfers between trailheads, no helicopters, and no motorized support. Jornet needed to run or climb the peaks and bike the hundreds of miles of highways and gravel roads between the mountain ranges of California, Washington and Colorado.

After just 31 days, Jornet finished the project on October 4 at the top of Mount Rainier. The total trip covered 3,197 miles and 403,690 feet of elevation gain, all in one month.

3. Jessica “Stitches” Guo: Linking CDT and GDT

In 2025, Stitches undertook a trail connectivity project: linking the CDT in the US to the Great Divide Trail (GDT) in Canada.

Stitches’ goal was to walk a continuous line from the Mexican border to Jasper, Canada. While the CDT is known for its ruggedness, the GDT is in a league of its own, often described as “a trail suggestion” rather than a trail. It involves hiking in the woods, bridgeless river crossings, and a density of grizzly bears that keeps hikers in a state of perpetual hyperawareness.

Stitches finished his 3,550-mile journey on September 19, after 152 days of hiking. What defined their walk was the deep isolation. The GDT is not the AT; there are no trail towns every three days. Stitches recorded 28 days in which he saw no other human beings and 41 days in which he saw no one else on the trail.

Navigating the Canadian Rockies alone, as a lone woman, required a level of self-sufficiency that few possess. She becomes the first woman on record to connect both NOBO trails in a single calendar year.

And throughout all the physical and mental turmoil of this journey, he managed to present incredibly beautiful and heartwarming daily updates about the road, which can be found on his instagram. His gift for telling stories meant that I often cried at his explanations of simple things, such as what birds he saw that day or the conversations he had with those who offered him magical paths along the way.

4. Julie Brock: Partially blind PCT speed record

Aussie ultrarunner and grandmother Julie Brock, 59, took on the Pacific Crest Trail with a disability that makes the very act of walking over uneven terrain difficult. Brock is partially blind: she has no vision in one eye and has severe depth perception problems in the other.

Brock set out to break the supported women’s SOBO FKT. It began at the Canadian border on August 1, which It avoided dangerous snow levels in the Cascades, but put it in a race against the encroaching winter and California wildfire season.

FKTs typically require hiking well after sunset to maintain mileage, and night hikes can be difficult even for hikers with full vision. Brock had to navigate the rocky, root-filled trail with limited depth perception, relying on proprioception and the support of her partner, Dave Byrnes, who followed her in an RV.

Brock walked an average of 39 miles a day for more than two months. On October 10, 2025, it reached the border with Mexico, in a time of 69 days, 19 hours and 27 minutes.

Triple Crowns from border to border per calendar year

5. Troy «The Punisher» Croxdale

The Triple Crown of Hiking consists of the Appalachian Trail (AT), the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), totaling approximately 7,500 to 8,000 miles. Historically, going through all three in a lifetime is a significant achievement. Doing all three in a single calendar year (CYTC) has only been accomplished a handful of times.

In 2025 a new standard emerged: the CYTC Border to Border (B2B) (yes, this all involves a lot of acronyms). For this variation, instead of starting at Springer Mountain for the AT, hikers start in Key West, Florida and hike the Eastern Continental Trail (ECT) to connect the southernmost points of the United States to the Canadian border three times in one year.

This year, Punisher became the first (although not the only) person to complete a B2B CYTC in the 2025 season.

Part of the difficulty of a B2B CYTC, besides the simple physical toll on the body, is the amount of logistics and planning involved in choosing a route. CYTC hikers typically need to jump from trail to trail as the weather changes, removing southern sections of the trail during weather windows that leave northern sections impassable and snow-covered.

By the time Punisher reached the Mexican border on the CDT, he had hiked 8,562.5 miles and about 1,300,000 feet of elevation gain, averaging about 29.2 miles per day, every day, for almost 10 months. And, a week before writing this article, Punisher announced in his instagram that he had continued walking and had traveled 10,000 miles during the calendar year.

6. Madison “Peg Leg” Blagden: first woman to walk 10,000 miles in 1 year

Punisher wasn’t alone on the CYTC B2B journey; Peg Leg also set out to tackle this monstrous goal and, in the process, broke the record for the most miles traveled in a year by a woman.

On November 17, Peg Leg arrived at the southern terminal of the CDT, becoming the first woman in history to complete a B2B CYTC. Its total mileage was 8,405 miles, breaking Heather “Anish” Anderson’s previous annual record of ~7,800 miles. However, Peg Leg wasn’t done yet.

As of this writing, Peg Leg is currently back on the Florida Trail in pursuit of 10,000 miles for the year. As of your most recent update, you are less than 400 miles from this target. Even having to take two weeks off in New England due to a hip injury, this will mean he has averaged more than 27 miles per day, every day, for the last 365 days.

7. Philip “Slide” Witmer: B2B CYTC through the Colorado snowpack

Slide finished his 7,648-mile calendar year Triple Crown between Jan. 3 and Oct. 22 before returning to the East Coast to hike from Springer Mountain to Key West, converting his CYTC to a B2B CYTC.

He finished this on November 9, making it the second B2B CYTC of 2025, and partnered with Peg Leg to hike the Florida Trail and join her in crossing the 10,000 mile mark within the calendar year. This will be the first known year in which three people have walked 10,000 miles in the span of a calendar year.

I followed Slide’s journey on the CDT as closely as I could; On a break from a CYTCer’s traditional route planning, he walked the CDT northbound. Not only did this make him the first known NOBOer to finish the year, but it also meant he battled through some seriously gnarly snowpack across Colorado, only sending his snowshoes home to the town of Encampment, Wyoming, about 1,500 miles away.

Record-Breaking Appalachian Trail Hikes

8. Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders (90 years | ongoing)

Photo via Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders

In 2017, Gray Beard claimed the title of oldest Appalachian Trail finisher at the age of 82. He held that crown until 2021, when his lifelong friend and fellow AT legend, MJ «Nimblewill Nomad» Eberhart, stepped up and took the record from him at the age of 83. In 2025, Gray Beard set out at age 90 to reclaim the record, saying, «I’m on this walk.» break a record, and I must focus solely on that effort, otherwise what is the purpose?

He began his walk on September 6, starting at Harpers Ferry and walking south. Your itinerary is a flip-flop one, designed to keep you in favorable weather. He plans to reach Springer Mountain before winter break, rest, and then travel to Maine in 2026 to hike south from Katahdin.

Sanders has a team to help with logistics, a concession to the realities of age that in no way diminishes the physical feat of hiking 2,000 miles over the difficult terrain of this trail.

9. Betty “Legend” Kellenberger (80 years old)

Image courtesy of Betty Kellenberger

In 2025, at the age of 80, Betty Kellenberger became the oldest woman to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Betty’s path to the record was littered with disasters that would have stopped most hikers in their tracks. His previous attempts were thwarted by Lyme disease, severe dehydration, a concussion and a broken ankle. If that wasn’t enough, he underwent knee replacement surgery shortly before starting, which delayed his walk.

Their 2024 trek was further complicated by Hurricane Helene, which devastated the southern Appalachians. The trace of Damascus was erased. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy effectively evicted hikers from the region for their safety. Kellenberger was forced to abandon the trail, but made a deal with the universe: her return in 2025 would be treated as the «first day» of an ongoing effort, according to ATC’s official policy in response to Helene.

He returned walking with a knee prosthesis and an iron will. He completed his flip-flop hike on September 12, 2025 on the Massachusetts-Vermont border. Their philosophy is simple and effective: «Stay active so you can continue going on the fun adventures you dream of doing. A healthy mind and body require activity to stay healthy.»

A huge congratulations to each of these hikers; You all served as inspiration to me this year and I am perpetually amazed by what humans are capable of achieving when they commit to a goal.

Here’s to a wonderful and impressive 2025 hiking season, and I can’t wait to see what awaits us in 2026!

Cover image: graphic design by Chris Helm.